


The Heir of Slytherin

by roeru



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Griffindor!Alfred, Hogwarts, M/M, Multi, Pottertalia, Slytherin!Arthur
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-17 10:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 39,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5865655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roeru/pseuds/roeru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was something about Arthur Beilschmidt that puts anyone on edge, for reasons that are unknown. Who knew he could be the most powerful dark wizard of his time, right? </p><p>Basically Tom Riddle!Arthur and how he doesn't start the first wizarding war (hopefully).<br/>Rating subject to change to explicit in the future chapters.<br/>Tags are updated regularly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

The rain poured onto the concrete road endlessly, the air saturated with moisture. The streets were empty, save for a man, huddled under a coat and an umbrella, who walked the lone path towards a looming building at the end of the street. Resounding steps paused, the cloaked figure looked up at the sign above the metal gates.

“This must be the place…” A cloud of fog appeared in front of his mouth fleetingly, the cold atmosphere making it possible. The man’s accent was thick with German roots, his hair nearly stark white if one couldn’t identify the light blonde tint of the locks. Light golden locks reached past his shoulders, tucked inside the black scarf that cradled his neck. His eyes were a stunning green, seemingly glowing from the intensity. A few wrinkles littered his face gracefully, obviously giving justice to his features despite the man’s true age. Tugging his scarf and coat closer to him, the man entered the gates.

“I must admit to some confusion upon receiving your letter, Mr. Beilschmidt…” It was a middle-aged woman who had greeted Mr. Beilschmidt by the entrance of the building. Her brown hair was streaked with thin silver locks, her eyes a dull shade of blue. For someone who seemed to be around her 50s, the woman carried herself with grace as a young English lady would.

“Please, call me Gerhart.” The man, Gerhart Beilschmidt, followed the brown-haired woman up the spiral of staircase. The lady coughed politely, nodding silently as she continued on the path upstairs. Her steps seemed hesitant to continue striding, much to the German’s confusion.

“I see, um, Mr. Gerhart,” She started once again, “You see, I find it strange that in all the years that Arthur’s been staying here… He’s never once had a family visitor.” The German only answered with a nod of confirmation, a gesture to show that he was indeed listening as the woman listed more as they walk to a room, which he had assumed to be Arthur’s.

They stopped in front of a plain metal door, a nameplate with the name ‘Arthur’ hung on a nail. The woman turned to Gerhart, her blue eyes swirling with indecisiveness. “There have also been… Incidents. Nasty ones.”

The male raised a brow at her, already having a vague idea as to the cause of what she may call incidents. She didn’t need to know that, though. The brunette sighed, resigned to the task of showing the boy to the gentleman and knocked on the metal door. Waiting for barely a minute, she turned the knob and pushed the door open with caution, calling out the boy’s name, “Arthur? You have a visitor-”

“No—! Don’t—“ It was a young boy’s voice that had screamed. The warning proved to have arrived too late when there was a heated blaze that almost caught the woman when she had peeked into the room, the brunette pulling back with a shriek and stepped away from the door. Even the German was surprised by the sudden outburst, stepping back to fully take in the scene before him. The sight that greeted him was the charred remains of what used to be curtains and bed sheets, and a boy on his fours on the floor. The younger male had messy golden blonde hair, the tips of it singed from almost getting caught in the flames that had burst from nothing. His eyes were like stunning emeralds, much like Gerhart’s own eyes, except with a deeply rooted sense of fear. Fear of what, Gerhart would like to know himself.

He would have approached the child on his own if it wasn’t for the woman suddenly coming back to her senses, storming into the room to reprimand the boy. “Arthur, for God’s sake! I told you not to play with gas and matches! What would we have done if you accidentally set the orphanage on fire?! One of these days, you will honestly--!” The man stepped forward ahead of her, stopping her effectively when she had raised a hand against the boy by standing between her and the cowering child.

“Alright, I’ll take it from here, I will be the one talking to Arthur here.”

“But sir!”

“I honestly do not have the energy or the time to argue at this point. I came here to see and talk to him and I will do just that.” The middle-aged woman was stunned to silence, forced to accept his insistence and quietly saw herself out of the room, closing the door behind her. With a tired sigh, Gerhart could only shake his head. There really were those muggles who got on his nerves and truly tested his patience. He didn’t hate muggles, per se. Unlike any other traditional pureblooded wizard, he saw them as an equal.  But for any other being that acted irrationally as to hit a child to reprimand him, he couldn’t help but lose the tiniest bit of respect he had for the woman.

The elderly platinum blonde turned to the boy, who was still on the floor with burnt tatters of sheets, moving to help the golden blonde up to his feet, gesturing towards what was left spared by the fire for the boy to sit down. From the shock of what had transpired, Arthur let himself be moved, relishing the comfort that his bed had given him when he sat down. Gerhart moved to sit across the boy, on a wooden chair. He was surprised that a chair like this, one that was made of wood, was spared from a hot outburst like the one a while ago.

The silence between them served as a reprieve for the older one but he was sure, from the other blonde’s fidgeting and squirming, that the silence only served to make the boy even more nervous and scared than he already is.

Unexpectedly, it was Arthur who had cut the silence short with a strange accusation. “You’re the doctor, aren’t you?”

“No,” It was an automatic answer, one that slipped out without processing the thought first. Gerhart cleared his throat. “I am a professor.”

The look on the blonde’s face showed of disbelief. Arthur already knew of whom to give his trust to which was rather impressive for a child his age. He wasn’t gullible, not that he was trying to fool him in the first place. Gerhart was one to be trusted in Arthur’s situation, he just had to show it.

“I don’t believe you,” He could already hear the anger building up in the boy’s tone but he was sure Arthur was trying hard not to show it, “She wants me looked at. They think I’m… Different.”

“Well, perhaps they’re right.”

“I’m not mad.” Arthur pursed his lips, stopping himself from giving into an outburst once again. His hands felt tingly, fingers rubbing against each other, and the older one took note of that. He was itching, his emotions directing his flow of magic.

_‘It’s obvious that he could not control it. The flames a while ago was the effect of his surge of emotions as well,’_ Piercing green eyes clashed with bright emeralds, the older one contemplating and carefully picking out his words, “Hogwarts is not a place for mad people. Hogwarts is a school… A school of magic.”

Confusion replaced the pent up rage in the child’s eyes, thick eyebrows scrunching together and his lips pressed tightly against each other. It was a sign for the other to continue, “You can do things, can’t you, Arthur? Things other children can’t.”

There was a thoughtful haze that overtook the boy’s emerald orbs. “… I can make things move without touching them.” There was a pause and when there was no sign from the elder to stop, Arthur continued to speak, “I can conjure fire, like awhile ago. I didn’t use gas or matches like what she said. I can make animals do what I want without training them. I can see things other children can’t. They don’t believe me though, just mock me for it.”

The child closed his eyes, a shaky breath leaving his lips before he opened them once again to look at Gerhart with pure vindication. “Who are you…?”

“Well, I’m like you, Arthur,” His deep voice took a much softer approach, a more reassuring tone, “I’m different.”

“Prove it.”

The two of them stared at each other for a while, one pair of greens accusatory and the other, full of mirth. Across the room, a wardrobe that stood tall suddenly burst into flames. The younger one immediately turned his gaze towards it, raw fear swirling in his eyes in place of the accusatory tint. His body went rigid as he watched the flames envelope the wooden furniture yet the older one made no move to extinguish it. But just as quickly as it appeared, the fire extinguished on its own, leaving no mark on the wood that it was ever ablaze in the first place.

“Listen to me, Arthur,” The said boy shifted his gaze back to the older one, “At Hogwarts, you’ll be taught not only to use magic, but how to control it. You understand me?”

Arthur stared up at Gerhart with the smallest bit of hope. He swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded, taking in what the older man had just told him. A magical school brimming with kids

As the German professor collected himself and was already on his way out of the door, the blonde boy in his excitement called out to him. “I can speak to snakes too!”

Something about that declaration made the older one falter in his steps, turning to the boy in shock but was careful not to make it known. Exhilaration made the boy go on with his words, sure that there was nothing that the man would say that would label him anymore different. “It’s normal for someone like me, right?”

Arthur’s question was met with silence and a troubled smile before Gerhart proceeded to leave the room.

* * *

 

“Excuse me!” A boy ran down the path of the platform along the train while pushing a huge cart carrying his things, trying to catch the attention of a train authority. The accent used by the young male was American, obviously not a native of the country but managing quite well since it was just across the pond. He had golden blonde hair, bright like a crown on his head and he also had eyes that rivaled the color of the clear blue sky to match his appealing looks. Though he had eyes that shone bright, it was unfortunately framed by thick frames, a piece of transparent tape keeping it together by the bridge of the glasses.

Fortunately, the train assistant took notice of the lost boy and turned to him. “How may I help you, lad?”

The American boy beamed at the man, smiling up at him as he asked. “Can you tell me where I might find platform 9 3/4? I really can’t find it, ehe…” He sheepishly asked, scratching the back of his neck, clearly at lost of what to do. He had failed to notice that the man merely looked at him funny and scowled at him.

“9 3/4? You think you’re being funny, do you?” The man left the boy, muttering to himself and obviously pissed off by what just ensued. The golden boy pouted to himself, a bit scared that he was at lost of where to go and he didn’t have anyone to ask for directions. What a way to start his first year.

The child gripped his ticket tightly and took a few steps forward before someone from behind him shouted, “Look out!”

Before he processed what just happened, the boy fell flat on his face, his glasses askew and nose bruised up and bleeding. The boy groaned quietly, sitting up and rubbing at his face to brush away any dirt that had clung and hissed when he had rubbed his nose a little bit too hard.

“Damn it, watch where you’re going, Veneziano! Honestly, could you get any more careless than falling on your butt?” A voice heavy with Italian reprimanded loudly, a group of kids approaching the scene.

The guy who he had bumped to, his name Veneziano most likely, was kneeling in front of him and apologizing profusely. The boy was obviously smaller and slimmer than he was; auburn hair frazzled by the fall both of them took. The blonde boy took notice of the curl on the other’s hair that seemed to defy gravity. He didn’t bother asking about that since even he had a pesky lock of hair that defied gravity no matter what he did to keep it down.

“Hey it’s really no big deal, it’s making me feel guilty for you to say sorry this much!” The American laughed in order to lighten the atmosphere between them, the Italian boy sniffing a bit and hitched a laugh. Two boys approached the two on the ground, one of them looking identical to the one before Alfred. Veneziano murmured a quiet, “Thank you, Fratello…” as he was helped up to his feet by his twin while another guy, the one with stark white hair and red eyes extended a hand towards him.

“Maaan! That was one nasty fall if you’ve got a bleeding nose from it! That’s kinda awesome, ya know!” The albino barked, pulling him up when he had grabbed his hand. The blonde stabilized himself, shifting his glasses a bit to make sure they wouldn’t break on him before pushing them back up on his nose and wiped the blood that had manage the ooze out from his nostril with the back of his hand. “Say, kid, what’s your name? I’m pretty sure you’re a first year with the way you were fumbling about a while ago, not having a slight clue of what to do!”

The American flushed in embarrassment, managing a loud laugh (too loud) to cover up his former distress. “M’ name’s Alfred! Alfred F. Jones!” He declared proudly, thumping his chest a bit with pride and with a wide grin. The older male only laughed, patting him on his back a few times before introducing himself.

“Well kid, I’m the Awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt. Better remember the name if you want to get into some trouble!”

Alfred thought that the name sounded strangely familiar but only laughed with the guy as the other people Gilbert was with before approaching him pushed their carts towards the wall between platforms 9 and 10. The blonde boy got a glimpse of where they were going as the one whom he had bumped to (Man, he didn’t really get his name did he?) run towards the wall with his cart and disappeared into it. “Wait, how…?”

“You really are new, aren’t cha? Lemme give you a head start then!” Gilbert was already moving behind Alfred, who instinctively held onto the handle of his cart tightly. “At the count of three, I’m going to run and push you towards the wall and see if you’re gonna go splat or not!”

“One!”

“Oy, bruder, stop scaring the first year!”

“Two!”

“W-Wait a minute! What do you mean splat?!”

“Three!”

_ “AAAAAH!” _

* * *

 

The beautiful passing scenery was one Arthur learned to savour the moment the express had started moving. It was something he didn’t see often since he has been stuck in an orphanage for most of his life. Well, until that fateful encounter with the professor all those years ago. From then on, that visit effectively turned his life a full 180 degrees.

“Excuse me?” Green eyes turned away from the fleeting scenery to shift his attention to the entrance of the cart, a lean boy standing by the door, giving him a full view of his pearly whites in a grin. He took note of how the frames that graced his face were rather crooked. He was sure the boy couldn’t wear those comfortably. “Can I sit here? Every other cart is full.”

“You may…” Arthur murmured cautiously, watching the male’s grin go bigger (if that was remotely possible at this point) as he entered the cart and plopped himself on the seat in front of him.

“Thanks dude!” The male chirped as he settled on his seat, “I’m Alfred, by the way! Alfred F. Jones!”

_‘American,’_ The English boy thought as he continued to stare at the other and sighed dismissively. “I’m Arthur. Arthur Beilschmidt.”

There was something in Alfred’s expression that changed slightly when he said his name, prompting him to raise an eyebrow at the boy before him. “So that’s why it sounded so familiar! You and Gilbert are related to Professor Beilschmidt? The headmaster?”

So this person has met his brother. Arthur merely groaned in exasperation. “More like he’s the one related to Professor Beilschmidt. I’m adopted.” It was said in a nonchalant manner as he rolled his eyes. How many times did he have to explain this same issue, he wondered. What caught him off guard was that the American continued to bounce on his seat. He shouldn’t be that excited over this.

“It’s really cool, isn’t it? Being with a wizard family?” The excited light that seemed to outshine any other star shone bright in the blue eyes was something that Arthur had words clogging his throat. He coughed quietly, turning his gaze away from the other blonde with a flustered expression. He reached into his bag to pull out a wand, a thirteen and a half inches wand with Yew wood. Sky blue eyes immediately locked at the sight of the wand, confusion growing within the depths of his eyes.

“What’cha gonna do?” The blonde inquired while Arthur raised his wand, its tip right in between Alfred’s eyes, specifically resting near the bridge of his glasses.

“The tape has been bothering me the moment I laid eyes on it, it’s quite irritating to look at.” Arthur let out a soft breath before flicking his wand in front of the frames. “Oculus Reparo.”

The tape that kept his glasses together suddenly spun around in a brisk pace until it vanished into thin air, leaving bonded metal at its wake. Alfred blinked numerous times, even to the point of removing his glasses to check the changes. Arthur smiled smugly at his success, tucking away his wand right before the other male had burst once again with excitement.

“Woah, that was so cool!” The American beamed brightly, jumping seats to sit beside Arthur. The sudden motion initially made the blonde uncomfortable but as Alfred started to tell stories animatedly along with exaggerated hand gestures, it didn’t seem too bad to have him as a friend.

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

In a span of a few hours, Arthur knew more of the American boy than what was necessary. He never seemed to shut up, rattling on about how it was unfortunate that his brother had to skip the school year due to poor health. He was barely listening anymore, finding the passing sights much more of a treat than Alfred’s stories. The other boy was thick-headed to the atmosphere. It was a surprise that only now did he realize that the English boy wasn’t giving him even half of his attention.

“Earth to Artie, come in Artie!” Alfred bellowed, waving his hands in front of the other blonde. That earned him an irritated scowl.

“Don’t call me that. It’s Arthur, not Artie.” The Brit huffed, inflating his cheeks in irritation. Much to his annoyance, the American only laughed. With a sigh of resignation, Arthur plopped his chin on his palm, leaning his head against the window as the American boy found no sign to stop his almost one-sided chatter.

Alfred’s voice served as background noise the rest of the train ride, only this time, Arthur had put his own inputs during the blonde’s stories. Arthur learned that Alfred came from a well known pureblood wizard family from New York. It was an initial wonder for him as to why Alfred had to travel all the way to England in order to study magic but was only given the reason that Alfred greatly admired Gryffindor. The wizard, that is. It didn’t come as a surprise to Arthur, judging from the passion which exuded from the other blonde when he talked about the wizard. Who wouldn’t admire a great Wizard like Gryffindor , after all?

When the train arrived at the end of its route, all the first years were flocked together by the gatekeeper while the older students went on their own way to the school via carriages. At some point in the grouping no matter how he tried to keep his sights on the other, Arthur had lost Alfred in the crowd. They were led down the platform and down a shady path, where there are boats awaiting them by the Great lake. There were students who gaped in awe at how massive the school looked like at a distance, some even letting out “Woaaah!”s. It was like a fortress, its mighty stone walls standing tall above all the trees that surrounded it. Even the Brit boy blinked owlishly at the size of the school.

It was a quiet travel across the lake until they finally arrived at the outskirts of the school. The gatekeeper left them on a landing stage at the base of the school.

The first years were all gathered by a professor who was waiting nearby, a man who looked to be in the prime of his life. He had short tousled brown hair, a few curls sticking up prominently, and hazel brown eyes that seemed gold under candlelight. He was dressed in black robes and pants, and a red knitted sweater over a clumsily worn dress shirt. The pin of Gryffindor was proudly clipped on his chest. If it wasn’t for the stubbles that made him look  his age, the man would have looked like a seventh-year student instead of a teacher.

“Alright first years, gather ‘round! Before you join your big brothers and sisters at the Great Hall, you will all be sorted into your houses!” Whispers and confused murmurs followed the statement from the crowd of students.

“Alright, alright!” The brunette chided with a smile, ”The four houses are as follows; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Whichever house you all will end up in, they will be your family during your entire stay here in Hogwarts. Your victories will be attributed to house points while being mischievous kids will have points taken away from the cup. The house with the highest points win!” The students started to talk amongst themselves, rather giddy at the teacher’s words.

With a clap, the man silenced the young crowd.”By the way, I’m Professor Romulos Vargas, Gryffindor’s head, and your Transfigurations professor. Now that’s settled, let’s go!”

As soon as the immense oak doors were pushed open, Arthur was thoroughly amazed by the sight. He immediately thought any kind of text he read about the Great Hall couldn't match the actual place. The hall was massive, seeming to stretch as high as the night sky despite knowing that the ceiling was merely bewitched to match the starry expanse of it. Thousands of lit up candles were suspended high up in the room, illuminating the halls. It was something straight out a fairy tale book but then again, this was a magical school.

They were asked to gather in front of the four tables, before a pointed hat laid on a tall wooden stool. Arthur glanced behind him to find his brothers by the table with a green flag with a logo of a snake hung above the long dining table. It was Gilbert who had spotted him first, pointing at him and tugging at their other brother, Ludwig. He flushed deeply and immediately looked away when he saw the white-haired male wave at him frantically to catch his attention. Sometimes, Gilbert acted more like a mum than an actual brother.

The Headmaster, Gerhart Beilschmidt, stood up once the entire hall has settled and quieted down a bit. There were those times Arthur really considered himself quite lucky for being this man’s son, despite being adopted.

“I welcome you all to Hogwarts! There is something I would like to remind all of you before we start the sorting ceremony. The Dark Forest is restricted to all students under any circumstances. And also, curfew is to take effect exactly two hours after dinner time. Students are to stay in their respective common rooms or dorm after this time period. Should anyone be caught failing to adhere to this will prompt any authority to punish and take house points from the student’s respective house,” The headmaster’s expression was grim and serious but eventually let up as he continued, “Professor Vlad will be the one to read out the names for the sorting hat.”

As soon as the headmaster sat back down after his speech, a man who sat beside him stood up. The professor had shaggy strawberry blond hair that reached past his neck, a small red top hat perched precariously on the right side of his head. When Arthur met the man’s blood red eyes, a cold shiver ran down his spine. Something about this man made him want to avoid him at all cost. The knowing smirk on the professor’s face only sealed the boy’s resolve.

Professor Vlad moved over to the sorting hat, pulling out a thick scroll from underneath his black robes. He carefully unrolled the parchment and cleared his throat. “Alright, just as the Headmaster have just said, I will be the one reading the names. Once I have called your name, I expect you to come forward and sit on this stool so the sorting hat can put you in your house,” the strawberry blonde pat the stool where an old pointed hat sat, “Let’s begin.”

As Professor Vlad began to list of names, Arthur felt the nervousness and dread fill him. It wasn’t that he had a particular choice of house but he just wished for one that would greatly help prove himself to anyone that he was made for great things. He was pulled out from his thoughts when he heard Alfred’s name, his gaze following the blonde who carefully pushed himself from the crowd to project himself towards the sorting hat.

“Hm… This one is difficult, difficult indeed… You have plenty of courage, not a bad mind either… But you also have a strong sense of ambition… You would do nicely in Slytherin, wouldn’t  you say?”

Though Arthur was a good distance away from the front, he could practically see the color from his friend’s face drain. He wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed but the boy looked ready to hurl at the realization of being sorted to a house that was the true rival of the house he most coveted.

“But a pure and unchanging heart like this one shouldn’t be in anywhere else but… Gryffindor!” Simultaneous sighs of relief left both Alfred’s and Arthur’s lips as the students from the Gryffindor table hollered towards the new member of their house. Arthur couldn’t miss the slight skip Alfred had in his steps as he approached the Gryffindor table and stopped himself from rolling his eyes but smiled to himself and mentally patted his friend on the back.

“Arthur Beilschmidt!”

It was his turn now. The realization made his body go rigid, swallowing a lump he didn’t know was there in his throat as Arthur forced himself to move forward towards the sorting hat. The look Professor Vlad gave him was sort of unnerving but he resolved himself not to look into the piercing crimson orbs and forced himself to sit down on the stool for the hat to be placed on his head.

The hat perched on his head moved with uncertainty if Arthur identified the slow movement as so. It was silent for awhile, neither anyone, not even the hat was committing a breath. It served to make Arthur nervous, especially with the way Professor Vlad was looking down on him like he was a meal.

“Oh my, your own flesh and blood practically screams Slytherin. Why could that be, hm…? There seems to be no other calling but… Slytherin!” The choice of words the enchanted hat used felt odd on Arthur’s ears. The blonde looked down at his hands, trying to look for answers on the curves and dents of his hands. His own flesh and blood? What did that even mean? Did the hat not look into his mind for his house but into his own _blood_? He was dragged out from his mind when a large hand held onto his shoulder. It was Professor Vlad and his polite yet eerie smile. Why did he look at him like that?

“Welcome to Slytherin, lad. Do join the other students at the table so we could continue with the other students.” Arthur was at lost for words when he stared into the swirls of crimson, nodding dumbly before getting off the stool to run off to the Slytherin table. In his journey towards the table, emerald eyes caught the blue stare directed right at him from the Gryffindor’s table, his own features taking in confusion when he realized it was Alfred staring at him but he couldn't decipher the boy’s own expression. It felt strange, nerve-wracking.

It was with his two brothers when Arthur chose a seat. Across him was a tall, buff boy, looking too large for his own age. His blonde hair, much like their father’s, was cut short and slicked back without a strand out of place. His blue eyes were much paler, almost taking in a rather greyish shade instead. It simply could not compare as to how bright and blue Alfred’s eyes were.

“Congratulations on being a snake like us, Arthur.”

Arthur smiled sheepishly, “Thanks, Ludwig.”

“You really are a true Beilschmidt, Arthur! Welcome to Slytherin! The best and definitely the most awesome house that exists in this school!” Gilbert, who sat beside him, slapped him on the back strongly and almost sent him toppling over the table. Arthur merely chuckled half-heartedly, groaning quietly to massage his shoulder a bit. It was quite exciting to be in the same house as his family, even though Gilbert would be leaving after two years while Ludwig after four. Maybe it was because of them that the hat chose him to be in Slytherin?

' _No, that can’t be… It said my own blood wanted Slytherin. Maybe something about--’_ Arthur wasn't able to think any more deeper into the words of the hat since everyone was already sorted out and the Grand Feast begun.

* * *

 

  
“This way, snakes! Don't want any of you lot getting lost or something!”

It came as a shock to both Ludwig and Arthur that Gilbert was a prefect.

_Hey! If you know how to get in trouble and get away with it, it wouldn't be put in your records!’_ The albino had cried out in retaliation to their accusatory looks. Besides, it really was unbelievable for a prankster like Gilbert to be a prefect.

Parting from the other houses, Slytherins made their way down to the basement of the school, a long stone staircase deep underneath the school until they met a cobbled wall at the end of the path.

‘Pureblood.’ At the mention of the word from their leading prefect, the wall made a crack until it was forcefully open to let students inside. Students streamed in as soon as the entrance permitted them while Arthur, together with Ludwig, stayed behind the pack.

“Why is the password ‘pureblood’?”

Ludwig seemed to be deep in thought as soon as Arthur asked the question, probably to literate it properly for one as young as Arthur to understand. “Purebloods are usually sorted into Slytherin since Salazar Slytherin was a pureblood and looked down on mudbloods.”

“Then why am I…?”

“Who knows?” Arthur bit his lower lip, as Ludwig strode forward, not even looking back to see if the younger one was following him.

There has been an ongoing cold war between Ludwig and Arthur, for reasons the German doesn’t say out loud yet shown bluntly. He doesn’t believe in the same outlook Gilbert and their father view muggles. Ludwig didn’t believe muggle-born wizards had the capabilities to be as magically gifted as purebloods are. So to introduce a muggle-born as a brother, he didn’t take it very well yet chose not to show it openly.

Which begs the question, why was he in this house if Slytherin only acknowledged purebloods? His endless void of questions were left unanswered and to be pondered on at a different time as Arthur followed the group, inside the dungeon before the door closed on its own.

From the outside, it didn’t appear to look anything like the inside. The door which sealed the entrance was aged but the inside was just marvelous. The atmosphere the room exuded felt rather grand yet classical with its black leather couches and dark colored furniture. Partway into the room was surrounded by the lake, the windows sealed shut by a spell to prevent water from pouring inside. The greenish glow from the lake water gave the room an aura of coldness, however.

“And here is the Slytherin common room! Make yourself at home since this will be the place where you can mingle with your fellow snakes for the next seven years of your lives. The dorm downstairs are all yours, freshies. The doors to the right of the way are for the boys while the doors to the left are for the ladies! Your things have already been brought to your respective spaces inside.”

A mischievous grin followed the white-haired prefect’s instructions . _‘That can’t be good. Not at all.’_

"Everyone besides the First Year students may go to the dorms now. This treat is specially reserved for just the babies of the house.”

* * *

 

“Bloody hell, I can’t believe this is actually happening…” Arthur grumbled to himself as he walked along the stoned path with the tip of his wand as his only source of light.

He absolutely had no idea where he was. If he got caught like this, he would definitely be accused of violating curfew.

Being lost in the forbidden part of Hogwarts like this could only attribute from Gilbert’s lack of instructions. No one needed a welcoming ceremony, especially one that required them to break the rules and lose house points. Or worse, get expelled.

His own pride wouldn’t let him boycott the ceremony after hearing what the albino had to say back in the Commons, after all. He just needed to stay hidden and not get caught.

_“Why do we need to stay overnight in a forbidden area?! It’s forbidden for a reason!” A boy fuming with rage bellowed. Arthur had seen this guy, along with Gilbert and Ludwig, boarding the train hours before. Gilbert has told him about the two they were with. The name of the one more gentle of the two was Feliciano. This one seemed more brash. This must be Lovino since Arthur knows Feliciano ended up in Hufflepuff._

_“Shut up, Vargas! You lot will not be considered true Slytherins if you don’t push through with this. You wanna be pansies like those Gryffindors?!” The protesting first years were silenced. Slytherins were known for their pride after all. “ A little risk like this will not only earn you respect but courage that can outmatch the Gryffindors. So we’re doing this, whether y’all want to or not!”_

… And that was the end of that. They had to break the rules and sleep somewhere forbidden  or risk being the black sheep of the House. At least, that was how Gilbert put it. The entire thing was stupid to him but if it was to prove his worth, then so be it.

This was scaring him, though. No one informed them as to why these parts were restricted to students in the first place. The Dark Forest they were told of during the welcoming remarks was already self-explanatory on its own but these forbidden parts were not even mentioned. There was probably a dangerous creature the school was housing or even spells gone wrong and people could get killed when caught in it.

The sound of leather scratching against concrete suddenly seemed so loud in the hollow hallway.

‘What was that sound?’ Arthur’s mind supplied as he turned his head to the end of the corridor. He swore he heard something shuffling, like fumbling footsteps. He immediately raised his glowing wand towards it but nothing was there, merely stagnant air. The night was so silent he could hear the frantic beating of his heart right at his eardrums as he swallowed a lump in his throat.

What if it was a professor? Had he been caught?

Arthur shook his head. If it was a teacher, he would have already been found out when using a wand-lighting charm. It was most likely another student in that case.

Pushing down any kind of fear that he had, Arthur mumbled the counterspell and let the entire hall be swallowed in darkness, save for the candlelight at the farther end of the hallway.

When the sound of shuffling footsteps resumed, Arthur moved swiftly towards it and pointed his wand.

“S-Stop right there if you don’t want to get stunned!” He stuttered out but kept his form firm and prepared his wand. The footsteps halted for a moment until it came once again, now louder than ever. He faltered for a moment, fear overtaking him when something, _someone_ , knocked him to the ground.

“Arthur!” The voice was familiar yet the ringing of adrenaline in the blonde boy’s ears made him groan, making the sound rather muffled.

“Wha… A-Alfred?” For a moment, Arthur was at lost as to what just happened. “Wait a moment, get off me you git!”

Fumbling over the boy who clung to him like a desperate child for his mother, Arthur struggled to push himself upright. From there, he pushed the American from his death grip, “What the hell are you doing here? You do know this is a forbidden place, right?” The Brit hissed out quietly. They were still going under the noses of authority, they needed to stay hidden and quiet.

“I was just wandering around when I-I saw you and the other Slytherins walking this way, so I f-followed you guys to see what you were up to!” Alfred cried out, voice shaken with terror. Arthur had to clamp his hand over the other boy’s mouth, shushing him. His own green eyes stared deep into the frightened blue ones, reprimanding him soundlessly. It was only the American who noticed the rapidly shortening distance between their faces, his own growing hot with warmth. When Arthur finally deemed Alfred calm enough, he removed his hand for the boy to go on with his explanation, “And then there was this ghost covered in blood so I ran off and got lost myself… I couldn’t find you, I was so scared!”

“Wait a minute, tell me you did not attend Hogwarts without knowing about the house ghosts? This is the most haunted place in all of Great Britain…!” Arthur groaned out quietly, exasperated. But no kind of scolding would comfort a scared child so the Brit merely sighed, straightening both of them out. “Well, the Bloody Baron doesn’t wander around these parts so you should be safe. Besides, you should not be scared of them, they’re rather friendly.”

“W-Who said I was scared?” Of course, a Gryffindor like Alfred wasn’t about to admit he was scared of all things. Arthur thought the defiant pout on the boy’s face was rather adorable on him.

Wait, adorable?

The two young wizards froze in their places when they heard what seemed like a gush of wind. That wouldn’t have been so strange if there were windows in this part of the castle.

“Someone’s here, we have to hide…!” Arthur murmured in alarm as he raised his wand with his right hand and grabbed onto Alfred’s hand with his left. The blonde flicked his wand over the both of them to cast a disillusionment charm. It was enough to conceal themselves as Arthur pulled the other boy towards the opposite direction which the wind came from.

“Wait a sec, Artie, where are we going?!” The taller of the two murmured harshly, making sure to be loud enough for the other to hear him during their run yet quiet enough to be mistaken as a whisper to any passerby.

“Be quiet!” In all honesty, Arthur did not have the slightest clue as to where they were headed. It was better being found in an unrestricted area instead of a, well, a restricted one. He didn’t really look where they were going, more focused on getting away from the unknown presence. Next thing he knew, they were entering the library, past a hall, and into an unknown door. It was a miracle that they weren’t caught or that has his charm had not failed them despite him using it for the first time under pressure. Once the door had been closed, Arthur leaned on it to finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh bollocks, we actually pulled that off…” There was a tone of mirth despite the heavy breaths that accompanied the English boy’s words. Alfred, who slumped on the floor and regaining his lost breath, started to giggle and gradually shifted to blown out laughter.

“Man, I can’t believe we really did that! I’m actually breaking rules with the prissy Arthur Beilschmidt!” Alfred began to laugh along with the other blonde, their amused giggles dying to relieved breaths. A calm silence wafted over them until Arthur decided to break it.

“Who are you calling ‘prissy’, you twat?” Arthur accusingly raised an eyebrow at the American, who only shrugged in return.

“I dunno, you seem like the goody two-shoes type that kisses the behinds of authorities.” The emerald orbs fixated on the other boy grew intense, clearly not amused.

“And what makes you think that? I believe I haven’t done anything to merit that image yet.”

“Yet? Does that mean you actually do kiss the asses of authorities?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth!” The light atmosphere they had awhile ago was clearly replaced with stuffy air that weighed heavily on their small shoulders. The night air was stingy, raising the goosebumps on the boy by the door. Arthur didn’t realize immediately how late it already was nor the fact that Gilbert was probably looking for him that very moment. To be truthful, he honestly could care less. It was Gilbert’s own fault for losing a first-year like this.

“Hey, you shouldn’t sit by the door. I’m sure the wind is coming in through the cracks of it.” Alfred pulled Arthur out from his drowsy state, who blinked his eyes open to properly decipher his surroundings.

“What is this place anyway…?” Arthur murmured as he slowly moved to stand up. Better inspect the room before slipping to unconsciousness. The empty room seemed to be another restricted area so he could still pass the ceremony by staying here until sunrise. Rounding a pillar, the boy saw at the far end of the room was a full-size mirror with an ornate gold frame standing on clawed feet. The Slytherin blinked in surprise, going closer to the furniture to inspect it.

“Uh, Alfred?” Arthur called out to the other male without looking away from the artifact, studying the object as he got closer to it. It seemed to be a regular mirror with words carved into its frame. The words seemed strange at first glance, but once he looked at it in a different angle, he was able to read the engravings, _‘I show not your face but your heart’s desire…’_

What did that mean?

Arthur stood before it, looking over the glass. A snake crawled slowly on the cobbled ground, slithering near his feet and around his leg. The boy jerked a bit, awaiting the sensation of a coiled reptile crawling up his limb but felt nothing. He watched the slim animal crawl up his body and finally settling on his shoulders. His own reflection raising his hand to the snake, fingers caressed the creature’s head before moving to grace its mouth.

It pulled out a wand from the snake’s mouth. It was a wand that the English boy have not seen before in his entire life. It was at least fifteen inches long. It glowed ominously in his double’s hand, emitting huge bouts of magic. The sight was eerie, strange. And his reflection’s smile felt like it hid a huge secret. It did nothing but scare him.

“Arthur!” He was jerked back to reality, his body going rigid when a pair of hands slammed down on his shoulders. His head turned swiftly to look at the sky blue eyes that looked at him with such worry. He swallowed thickly, attempting to regain composure. “You’re sweating like crazy… And you were out of it for a moment there!”

Arthur pulled himself away from the American’s grip, holding onto his bicep and propelled the boy forward to where he was standing beforehand. “Tell me what you see in that mirror!”

“Ack, alright alright! Geez, you’re really weird, sometimes…” Alfred grumbled as he presented himself before the mirror, a bit at lost until an image started to take form in the mirror. “I see myself… Playing Quidditch! Woah wait, I’m a chaser _and_ captain! That’s so cool!”

Desire, _Erised._ “It’s the Mirror of Erised…” Arthur murmured to himself, almost in disbelief of what they have just discovered. He was more confused as to what he saw in his own reflection. What was the meaning of that snake and wand? Did it have something to do with the Slytherin house? Was that wand his most coveted desire? He wasn’t sure, he couldn’t make up a proper explanation for it.

“Hey Arthur, do you think this mirror shows the future? I certainly hope it does.” The other blonde said in glee, turning to Arthur with a huge smile. The boy didn’t have the heart to say that the mirror only showed innermost desires and not the future but he didn’t have the heart to say so when Alfred smiled like that.

“I hope so too.” The Slytherin lied through his teeth casually. He didn’t want to see himself turn into what he saw in that mirror. He felt like his reflection was rather ominous… And evil. Why did it show him that, though? It was supposed to show his heart’s true desire. Maybe it was wrong?

Or was he just telling himself that, lying to himself? He coveted power, after all.

“Do you think the hat put you in the wrong house?”

It had been at least an hour since they’ve stumbled upon the room where the Mirror of Erised was hidden in. The two boys were huddle against a wall, their sides pressed up against each other for warmth. They already deduced that no one was going to find them in that room. Since Arthur needed to stay there the entire night and Alfred was too scared (“I’m not scared!”) to go back to his dorm on his own, they decided to spend the night there.

Arthur raised a thick brow at the inquiry.

“Why would you think that? Are you saying the Sorting Hat was mistaken?” Arthur watched Alfred scratch his own cheek, trying to properly collect himself.

“Well… From the train ride here, I guessed that you and I would be in the same house. I mean, we clicked and all!” Arthur could only turn his head to the side to stare at the other boy in disbelief.

“What the… That's not how it bloody works!--”

“And besides!” Alfred raised his voice, making sure to effectively cut off the other blonde. The Brit was silenced almost immediately. “Most wizards who turned bad were Slytherins!”

Arthur glanced at the boy in incredulousness who seemed fairly confident of his answer. He grinded his teeth together. “So you think my family, who are all Slytherin, are evil people? No one asked for your discriminating opinion! You judge someone based on their house? That is the worst thing you can possibly do, Jones.”

Alfred was stunned by his accusation, who immediately recovered from the shock and retaliated angrily, “It’s true! Salazar Slytherin was an evil man who couldn’t find anything useful in a muggle-born, unlike Gryffindor! I’m surprised that you, a mudblood who didn’t know his own parents, got into that elitist house!”

“You have no idea about what you are spouting!” Arthur hissed out venomously, glaring at the other male with ferocity. How could he think this prat could be his friend? “Gryffindors really like to rile up Slytherins, huh? Bloody tosser.”

Alfred only fumed at him, huffing as he moved away from the other boy to settle away from the snake. Arthur would never admit to Alfred, not even to himself, that the bout he had with the American left a gaping hole in his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Citti and Bea for being my betareaders on this chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to upload this chapter early since my midterms are coming up~

After leaving the Mirror of Erised room the morning after, the air had changed between Arthur and Alfred. Their conversation the night before had gravely injured the budding friendship, replaced by the fiery blaze of rivalry. It shaped into  a rivalry that was deeply rooted in them, despite the short amount of time spent together.

 When Arthur got back to the Commons the morning after the Slytherin Welcoming Ceremony, he told Gilbert how he’d gotten lost during the night. He was able to craft a story that left out every single detail about a certain Gryffindor being with him during that time and the Mirror of Erised. His brother didn’t need to know about those. And as it turns out, Gilbert and the others were caught by a professor during the ceremony.

  _“We didn’t even know Professor Vlad was there! It was kinda scary, he just blended in, y’know? Now all the first-years, except for you of course, and us Slytherin prefects got a week-long detention! And I think our house points are at its negatives…” Arthur only replied with an exasperated sigh._

 Time proved to move briskly. Before anyone knew it, it had  been at least a week into the term. The two rivals aimed to outshine the other in each class the two of them were in. The first transfiguration class was a disaster with Alfred taunting the Brit during introductions and it only turned into a huge quarrel between them. Romulos had no choice but to take five points from each of their houses for disrupting class, much to the two boys’ chagrin. Of course, they earned back the lost points by performing excellently, even if doing so was just to spite the other. Each given moment, they were at each other’s throats. It only served to be a bother for everyone around them.

The first flying class seemed promising, in a sense. Arthur was a bit nervous for the class but he’d always wanted to learn how to fly a broom. Their professor seemed like she really knew  what she was  doing. At first, a lot of students underestimated her because of seemingly sweet appearance. Besides having a tough attitude, it was wholly concluded by most of the first-year boys that Madam Hedervary  was a true beauty. Her long honey brown hair was tied up with a pink ribbon to keep it away from her face, the lack of strands on her face highlighting the dark grassy hues of her eyes.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson, kids!” The brunette grinned as she looked over her students, nodding at each one. Her smile disappeared easily, though, shifting to a more stern expression.“Well, what are you waiting for? Step up to the left side of your broom.”  
  
Arthur moved over to his broom, lifting his head to glance at his classmate before him. He was met with the infuriating smile of a certain blonde, bespectacled Gryffindor. The English boy clicked his tongue in annoyance. He wasn’t even surprised that Alfred was once again his classmate like any class of his, besides Potions and Herbology. Although, for the American to choose to stand across him was something that he was baffled with.

“Alright! Stick your right hand over the broom and say, ‘Up’!” The broomstick underneath Madam Hedervary’s hand immediately jerked up into her hold, following the command, “Like so.”

“Up!” It was a mix of voices, repeating that single command over and over but not one broom followed it. Alfred said it once, loud and firm, and his own broom sprang up into his hand. He was one of the very few whose broom followed as ordered. A broom was much like a horse, easily identifying if its rider was afraid of it. Alfred wasn’t afraid of flying, he dreamed of it. The Gryffindor’s oceanic eyes glanced up to emerald ones watching him intently, smirking at his self-proclaimed rival.

Arthur was having none of his rude remarks and struck his hand forward to his broom. “Up!” It followed him as quick as his order came. His own smirk was only returned with a huff from the American.

“Now, I want you all to mount it! Kick up from the ground hard and float up into the air for a few feet. Keep your grip firm and steady so you don’t lose control. Hover for a moment and touch back down by leaning forward! On my whistle!”

It was easier said than done, at least, that’s for the case for one of their classmates, who kicked off too hard when Madam Hedervary placed her whistle between her lips. The young girl wobbled mid-air, trying hard to get back down onto the ground only for the broom to raise her higher into the air.

“Get back down here!” Madam Hedervary had called out but that did nothing to bring the girl back  to the ground. She only wailed and panicked, the broom rising foot by foot. The broom teetered bit to the side, when the student was, at least, twenty feet in the air, without her noticing until she was falling.

With a thud and a ringing crack, the student landed on the ground face down and unmoving. Everyone rushed over to her, with their professor pushing herself through the crowd to inspect the scene and her student.

“Ah, broken wrist…” Arthur heard her muttering and tutting quietly, “Here here, I’m taking you to the nurse’s, up, up…” The brunette cooed quietly as she helped the student up to her feet.

She turned to the rest of her class, scanning the crowd with a sharp gaze. “I’m taking her to the hospital wing. If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will be out of Hogwarts before you can say Quidditch!”

Madam Hedervary took off with the student, who whimpered and sniffled while clutching her wrist to her chest. Only when did the pair leave did a laugh ring out quite loudly, prompting most of the class to glance at the source.

“Oh man, free time! Hey Artie, want to test who’s the best at flying?” Arthur’s gaze turned into a hardened glare, gritting his teeth at Alfred’s challenge. Any given time, any possible time, the American would always want to pick a fight with him. Why did he indulge him though? It was probably because this was the only kind of interaction the Gryffindor would allow him. It was a rather strange relationship to begin with.

Everyone was watching them now, some cheering for the Gryffindor while some, looking at the Slytherin in disdain. Arthur cleared his throat by swallowing, furrowing his eyebrows and gripped the stick of his broom tighter.

“Don’t be damn stupid, Arthur,” The Slytherin was surprised someone had spoken up. It was none other than Lovino Vargas. Arthur wasn’t sure if they were really friends to begin with but the auburn-haired boy is the only one in the first-year male dorms with him since only two of them were boys while the other first-years were girls. They talk a lot when they're together in the dormitory but not as much when in a class together. “He’s just riling you up. Besides, we could lose even more of our nonexistent house points.”

Arthur would laugh at the thick sarcasm dripping from  the other boy’s tone if the situation at hand wasn’t making blood pound at his ears. The English boy turned to the other blonde.

"Very well, Jones. Don’t regret being shown up.” Arthur heard Lovino groan behind him, most likely shaking his head and muttering about how stupid he was being. He didn’t care. Didn’t Lovino realize his pride was at stake here? Him and his fat pride.

Alfred was already mounting his broom and taking off, a complete natural at flying a broom. Everyone seemed impressed by the boy. Arthur clearly wasn’t. He bet he could do that as well. The boy rose up into the air until he was, at least, high up over the tallest person in their class. “C’mon Artie! Unless you're scaaaared?”

 Even with Lovino’s protests, Arthur got on his broom as well. “I’m not scared, Jones! Prepare to get floored!” His threat was only replied with a high-pitched laugh, a laugh seeming to exude bliss if one didn’t know better. The brit blonde followed the other up in the air, their eyes leveling up to each other. It was a clash, an accepted challenge.

“Alright, race me ‘round! If you can catch up to me, that is.” With a wink, Alfred turned his broom to zoom past the air at an unspeakable speed. Arthur’s face was flushed with shame, not expecting the sudden speed. He ground his teeth as he gripped his broom tighter, following the trail that the American left behind.

“Come back here!” The Slytherin growled out, his eyes fixed on the back of the chuckling Gryffindor. Besides chasing after Alfred to protect his pride, Arthur deemed that flying was one of those things that he enjoyed first-hand. It was a lesson he didn’t need anyone to teach him to do. He felt like a free bird with the way the wind brushed through his locks of hair. It was refreshing, at least. The cool wind lightly quelled the raging anger that bubbled weakly in his stomach.

Suddenly, Alfred dropped down forward like deadweight.

Arthur’s heart immediately dropped to the bubbling flames of his gut, the burning anger quickly turning to freezing worry.

“A-Alfred!” He choked out, following the nose dive the blonde took. It’s not like he hated him enough to let him drop from fifty feet in the air and die from his stupidity. He knew this was dangerous, working directly with gravity like this. He could break his neck and die if he didn’t pull himself upright. But he wouldn’t let this be the end for Alfred.

At least five feet left before crashing to the ground, it was a shock for Arthur that the other blonde quickly lifted for his course to become parallel with the ground once more. At three feet, Arthur barely did the same before crashing but he was obviously furious with the other blonde, judging from the redness of his face. Alfred laughed as he landed, proclaiming the race a win for him since the English boy could barely keep up with him.

Arthur landed on the ground, fuming quietly. How dare he mock him like this? Was it a joke for him to play dead while flying? Dirty tosser.

“Jones! Why I oughta--”

“Alfred F. Jones!”

“Arthur Beilschmidt!”

Both students froze on their feet at the firm calls of their names, turning to the source of it to find two of their professors walking towards them. Not just any of their professors, it was Professor Vlad and Professor Romulos.

Now, they were in trouble.

Both of the teachers looked over the rest of the class before their gazes fixed on the two blondes. Their expressions were rather stern, a face that looks quite foreign to Professor Romulos’ face.

“You two, come with us.” It was Vlad who spoke, his voice sounding neutral in tone. Arthur couldn’t tell if he was angry or not. It was nerve-wracking.

The two boys turned to each other for a moment before nodding dumbly to their two professors. Both of them were trembling as they followed the adults inside the building. When the four of them were walking, not a single word was uttered to the students and that made them much more nervous.

They barely lasted two weeks in school and now they were getting kicked out for _flying around_. Arthur thought now that he shouldn’t have indulged Alfred’s challenge. Green eyes darted to his right, finding that the other blonde was pale as snow. Even Arthur knew why he was like this. Alfred’s parents were really going to be disappointed in him if he got shipped back to New York because of a ridiculous incident such as this. A part of the Slytherin boy felt horrid for the American but the other part was just chanting ‘I told you so.’

But even his own mood soured. What would Mr. Beilschmidt tell him if he found out about this?

The professors, with the two boys jogging miserably behind them, stopped in front of a classroom. It was Vlad who knocked on the oak door, Romulos poking his head inside.

“Excuse me, Professor Arlovskaya, do you mind if we borrow Gilbert and Mathias?”

Arthur’s face paled even more in comparison to Alfred. Were they going to break the news to his brother first before telling the headmaster? The shame evidently floated above any other emotions he had.

“Take the both of them, they're doing nothing but ruckus!” The two fifth-year students only laughed as they left the room with a fuming Potions professor behind. When the two got out, Gilbert glanced at Arthur curiously with the boy trying hard to shift his eyes away. The other boy, Mathias, was a much taller person than Gilbert. The first thing Arthur thought when he saw Mathias was ‘delinquent’ because of how unruly his blonde hair was, sticking up in all directions. Mathias had eyes that were a baby blue, evening out the maturity on the boy’s face.

The two teachers took the four students towards the end of the hall before turning to them. Romulos had a huge grin on his face while Vlad had a very reserved smile. Both Arthur and Alfred were rather confused.

“Mathias, Gilbert, we found you guys Quidditch players!”

_Huh?_ Arthur was gaping at Vlad in bewilderment, whose smile grew even bigger and started to chuckle.

“Yes, Arthur, Alfred, you heard right. I’m sure that was your first flying lesson but to fly with control at that speed, it’s remarkable. Arthur, that nose dive of yours was outstanding. You didn’t even rough yourself up.”

Gilbert and Mathias were both grinning and turned to each other. It was already clear in their gazes that this year would be something different to them, in terms of Quidditch.

Romulos turned to both first-year students, eyes serious. “Now, all we ask for return is, we want to hear you boys training hard. We’ll let your punishment slide if you do that.” Then a grin appeared once more on the Gryffindor Head’s lips. Arthur could literally hear the heavens opening up and angels singing. It felt like dodging a curse right there.

“Yes, sir!”  


* * *

It was no surprise the promising first-years were the talk of the school. Being chosen as Quidditch players was meant to be a secret, naturally the entire school knows in barely a week. First-year Alfred F. Jones as Gryffindor’s golden chaser while Arthur Beilschmidt as Slytherin’s rising seeker. Quidditch games definitely became a much more exciting event, especially if it was Gryffindor and Slytherin battling it out. The booming popularity, not only begged for attention but for more stories and gossips. The popularity however, served as a negative ingredient to Arthur.

Most gossips tended to antagonize Arthur just for the fact that he was a Slytherin, a muggle-born to boot. It wasn’t just the Gryffindors mocking him, but even a handful of Slytherins as well. Rumors turned into fairy tale-like gossips about how Alfred was the golden boy of the school while Arthur as the villain out to destroy the American in every conceivable way. It rendered the Slytherin student dumbfounded as to how far rumors even went.

Arthur only realized the gravity of these rumors when he walked to the Great hall one morning, suddenly feeling at least half of the occupants’ gazes on him. In his peripheral vision, he saw students who sat in the center of the room, looking at him like a foreign object, pointing at him as if he were an animal in a cage. _Laughing at him as if he were a fool._

The Slytherin first-year settled on a seat by the end of the table, accompanied by his brother Gilbert and two of his friends. Both of them are fifth-year students like his brother, though from different houses. One, who was from Ravenclaw, had blonde hair, reaching his shoulders at least, and deep violet eyes. Arthur had deduced on their first meeting that he was French, from the male’s accent and name, Francis Bonnefoy. The Brit wasn’t particularly fond of this guy, just for the fact that the first thing Francis had noticed was his ‘ridiculous’ set of eyebrows and had offered to tweeze it for him. He also didn’t like Francis for his horrid choice of daily perfume. The other one, a Hufflepuff, was a tan male with chocolate brown hair and a set of apple green eyes. His name was Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, but Arthur was permitted to call him just Tonio.

“Geez Art, what the heck is going on between you and Alfred?” It was Gilbert who asked him first. Arthur was already troubled to the point that he didn’t even bother correcting the nickname, “Whatever your thing is with him is definitely making the school anticipate for more juicy details.”

The young blonde let out an exasperated groan, frowning even more and furrowing his eyebrows. It was obvious that it was Gilbert and Francis getting the kick out of teasing the poor boy.

It was the Frenchman who smiled at him now, plopping his chin on a knuckle. “Ah, _mon ami_ , maybe you rejected his confession or something of the like?”

Even after almost an entire school year had passed since the incident in the room of the Mirror of Erised, Arthur didn’t spout a single word of the bout he had with Alfred to anyone. It was something he wanted to bury into his thoughts and forget about it. It was impossible to do so with the current course of events. Every chance they had, they were bickering and yelling at each other. How could he forget about it if Alfred reminded him every damn time?

“What?! Of course not! I did absolutely _nothing_ to him! He’s the one acting like a bloody arsehole!” The British boy growled as he took a bite from his lunch. Exactly, he didn’t do anything to merit this kind of treatment. In the first place, it was Alfred who had insulted him in bad taste.

“But seriously, _amigo_ , what happened between the two of you? The school’s been awfully imaginative with the stories but I don’t believe a single one of them.” It was always Antonio who was the level-headed one out of the three and Arthur appreciated that about him. He sighed softly, turning his eyes a bit to glance at the other table beside theirs. Alfred sat a few benches across him, his back facing the Brit. The boy seemed oblivious to his presence but it was most likely that the blonde knew he was there, just choosing to ignore him. Why was Alfred the one affected deeply affected by him being a Slytherin anyway?

“He insulted my being a Slytherin and an adopted child.” It was as simple as that. He didn’t even mention when Alfred had called him mudblood.

The trio looked at each other, skeptic at the explanation and nodded in understanding, going off to a different topic, one Arthur wasn’t interested in listening to. Any talk about his circumstances always made him anxious, Gilbert knew not to pry, and so did his friends. Judging from how his brother’s crimson red eyes became even sharper, Arthur thought that maybe Gilbert was angry. An anger directly most likely on Alfred, but the German chose not to show it. His brother was such a hen sometimes and he couldn’t help but like that about him. The sympathy served to uplift the blonde a bit.

But even with his mood lifted up even the slightest, the watchful eyes of his fellow students unnerved Arthur to the point of not being able to finish his meal, getting up to go to his next class earlier than expected.

* * *

“Beilschmidt, do you mind staying behind for a moment? I have a few things to talk to you about.”

Arthur lifted his head from collecting all of his things on his table when his name was called out by none other than Professor Vlad. Defense against the Dark Arts was the final period for the last day before the summer break so all students had already left the room in a rush for their after-school activities. In the ancient room, there was no one besides Professor Vlad by the teacher's desk across the room while Arthur was by a table at the back of the room near the center aisle. There was nothing in his current situation that would be able to help Arthur out of it.

The blonde swallowed thickly, the nervousness heightening. He nodded numbly, dropping his books on the desk gently before walking towards the professor at the end of the room. It was a horrifying experience that the initial vibe Arthur had when he first stood close to him was to stay away from this man if he could help it. It terrified him even more that the feeling didn’t go away in the slightest even after almost a year.

“Yes, sir?” His words were steady and easy flowing as he spoke but he was sure his underlying cautiousness was evident with his tone.

“I know you're in a rush to get home for the holidays but there is just something I would like you to consider over the break.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow, silently prompting the man to continue. His interests were piqued at this point.

“What is it, professor?”

“Would you consider taking extra lessons from me?” Vlad was straight to the point, blood red eyes digging into green ones to show brutal sincerity. Arthur was surprised this proposition was even considered at all, “The curriculum that Hogwarts makes me use is rather… Unsuitable for a wizard with your capabilities. If you must know, I see high potential in you to become an Auror, a great one at that.”

The boy’s eyes widened, not believing in what he was hearing. “An Auror, sir? Isn’t it quite difficult for one to even be considered as a candidate?”

Vlad only curled his lips, the daunting and knowing smile like his. A cold shiver ran down the younger’s spine. “Believe me Beilschmidt, you show magnificent potential in my class and others. I know you have what it takes to be an Auror. We just need to make your training much more challenging to heighten your prowess.”

Arthur stared warily at the professor, pursing his lips. He was oh so tempted to simply give the whole-hearted yes but there was something that seemed to be left unsaid. “... Is having private lessons even permitted by the Headmaster?”

"You’re very perceptive. No, these lessons are to go under the Headmaster’s nose unnoticed,” when Vlad saw Arthur about to give an outright refusal, he cut him off quickly, “But having no permission isn’t really stopping Romulos and Jones, so why not follow the tactics with my best student?”

Professor Romulos and Alfred?

“You mean to tell me Jones is having extra lessons with Professor Romulos?” Arthur worded out the truth, eyebrows furrowing. No wonder why Alfred seemed infinitely better than him at transfiguration. The brunette nodded in confirmation.

“Quite unfair, right? Who would  have known the Gryffindor house could do something so sneaky. I would like you to consider this chance as well…”

“No, I’ve made my decision now. We start as soon as the school year starts again.”

The smirk on Professor Vlad’s lips curled into that of the Chesire Cat’s. Arthur swallowed, throat bobbing in exasperation. What happened to staying away from this man if he could help it? But he couldn't let a chance like this pass. No matter how ominous being around Vlad is, he couldn’t deny that he is a great teacher.

“Very well, _Arthur_ ,” Goosebumps rose on the boy’s skin, “See you next school year.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clarifications:
> 
> This is the last chapter for their first year in Hogwarts. From this point on, expect plenty of time skips because not much happens on their early years. I have plenty of plans for their 4th and 5th years tho!!


	4. Chapter 4

“No, no, no, Kumatarou, get back here!” A squeak was heard after the gentle call. A white mouse, about the size of a child’s palm, scurried down the stoned floor of the hallway. A child scampered and fumbled about, following closely behind the little rodent.

It was a young boy, an unsorted first-year from the lack of colors on his tie. Oversized, black wizard robes seemed to swallow the boy’s lithe body, the length of his sleeves almost past his fingers. If he wasn’t careful with his steps, he could trip over his own robes. The frames on his face were thick, almost taking up half the size of his face. Wavy blonde locks framed his face gently, a lock of curly hair standing out from the rest. Beneath his glasses and sheltered by long black lashes, amethyst orbs were masked with worry.

He knew he shouldn’t even be here, not at this crucial time. It was the first day of arriving in Hogwarts and the first thing he does is lose his pet. It was easy for his pet to slip away from him, even easier for the boy to slip away from the crowd to go looking for the fluffball. In any case, he couldn’t afford to lose his mouse here. Hogwarts was too big of a place to lose something so small.

When the animal swiftly turned around a corner, the boy’s eyes were too fixated on the mouse that he didn’t even notice another person coming his way and collided with the other. His breath was knocked from his slender body, despite the bump being too weak to send any able-bodied person falling back like he did. The sheer force sent the shorter boy stumbling backwards, his behind cushioning his fall when he fell to the ground.

“O-Ow…”

The impact had knocked the gigantic frames off the boy’s face, rendering his vision blurred. The first-year only realized the loss of his glasses when he looked up to find the person he collided with unrecognizable due to his poor vision. He went up on his knees and started to search blindly for his glasses. Despite the foggy sight, the boy was still able to see the figure in his peripheral vision move frantically before him, crouching down to the floor as well.

What was this person doing?

“Oh hey hey, I’m sorry, kid! Here, you must be looking for this, right?” The first thing the young boy noticed was that the person’s accent was saturated with foreign roots that he couldn’t recognize. After just a few moment, the familiar shape of his glasses was presented before his eyes, the younger blinking a few times to process the figure.

“O-Oh… Thank you.” The blonde mumbled quietly, his hands reaching out to take his frames from the other person to set them on top of his nose and adjusted them accordingly. He blinked a bit to let his vision adjust, looking up at the other boy before him.

Neither has he ever seen eyes as red as rubies, nor has he seen hair as white  as snow. The blonde blinked a few times to make sure this person was actually real, only to find that the other boy was staring at him as well, equally enamored as he was. The first year was enraptured, until his gaze fell on a rodent alike in color with the other male’s hair sitting on the his shoulder.

“Kumamimi!” The call seemed to snap the person from his trance as well, who shook his head a bit before grinning widely.

“So that’s the name of this little guy!” The albino male laughed and scooped up the mouse carefully in his palm to hand to the younger boy. “I was just looking for a missing rascal when this guy just ran towards me, scared for his life!”

The boy had a feeling that the missing student the older was looking for was him. Who else could possibly be wandering around aimlessly like he was? He was even more surprised that someone was sent looking for him. It was easy for him to merge with a crowd, like he was invisible. He couldn’t have been seen slipping away. He swallowed nervously, laughing a bit, and held Kumajirou close to his chest. “Kumapyon normally doesn’t come near other people…”

“Wait, I thought his name is…” The snow-haired male seemed skeptical for a moment but only smiled to himself and shook his head. “Never mind. What’s your name anyway? You shouldn’t be wandering around here when everyone’s gathered at the Great Hall!”

“I uh… I’m Matthew Williams.” The boy murmured quietly, lifting a finger to mess with his prominent hair curl nervously. He usually did that when he felt embarrassed. The other boy seemed surprised at the sound of his name, the shock quickly dissolving. Now he simply looked like a parent about to scold their child.

“Matthew Williams, huh? You got any idea how long it took me to find you? Geez, you shouldn’t have been wandering the halls like this!” The blonde seemed rather ashamed at his mistake with the way he couldn’t look at the piercing red eyes. Even Kumajirou seemed to squeak in apology with the way it lowered his head and hid its face. The taller one merely sighed and ran a hand through his stark white hair.

“Might as well introduce myself as well before taking you back to the Great Hall,” The albino stubbed a thumb to his chest, “The awesome me goes by the name Gilbert Beilschmidt from the awesome Slytherin house! Better remember the name, rookie!”

Matthew blinked his eyes a few times, the name sending some of the gears in his head running. Beilschmidt? Slytherin? Those were two things put together were the things his brother ranted about the entire summer. Not entirely in a bad way, of course, since his brother didn't realize that his true friends were the people he fought with initially. Gilbert didn’t seem to match his brother’s description of his so-called rival, so maybe it was the albino’s sibling since they shared the same last name and house.

“Well, now that introductions are settled, let’s go back, yeah?”

On their way back, Matthew simply listened to the Slytherin’s one-sided stories, nodding his head to show that he was listening. He wasn't a talkative person, per-se. He simply chose when to pipe in, and those moments were already rare on their own. Or maybe, he simply wasn’t heard due to his voice’s lack of volume.

“.... Sounds interesting.”

“Right?! Professor Arlovskaya can be such a stick up the ass!”

Matthew jolted a bit and looked at Gilbert in shock but was pleasantly surprised that the albino actually heard him and continued to talk despite his few responses. It didn’t take long for them to reach the looming oaken doors of the Great Hall despite the slow pace they accustomed themselves with. Gilbert worked the door open with a wand and the two of them were exposed to the crowd.

Everyone had their eyes on them and the attention made Matthew rather anxious. He was almost ready to puke, actually. Gilbert didn’t seem to notice what he was feeling, thankfully. He really wouldn't want him to see how pathetic he actually is. The shorter boy sputtered incoherencies when a hand collided forcefully with his back, propelling him forward.

“Go on Mattie! We already wasted enough time in the hall, so you’re probably the only one not yet sorted!”

Matthew turned his head only to find Gilbert already walking towards the Slytherin tables, sitting beside a kid with unruly blonde hair. The first-year watched the Slytherin pair for a moment, seeing Gilbert move animatedly as if telling a story before purple eyes caught the seemingly glowing emerald eyes that turned to him. That was probably the person Alfred told him about. What was his name again? … Arthur? He felt frozen in his place when they had locked gazes. There was a foreboding feeling evident in Arthur’s aura. It served to make the Canadian rather uneasy.

“Matthew Williams! It’s time to sort you!” Matthew jolted from his trance, frightened eyes shifting forward once more to find a professor waving him over to the front. The purple-eyed boy nodded frantically before rushing ahead, stopping when he was right in front of the stool to push himself on it.

Matthew closed his eyes tightly as the Sorting Hat was placed on his head. A part of him wished to be placed in the same house as his brother but it was really up to himself, he mused. Amethyst eyes wandered to settle on the familiar sight of his brother, Alfred, by the Gryffindor table grinning at him. Yes, no matter what house he would be in, they would still be the closest one to each other.

“You know when to hold back… You also have an abundance of patience and hidden talent… You’ll be perfect in Hufflepuff!”

The Canadian beamed to himself, smiling gently as the Sorting Hat was taken off his head so he could join his housemates. A glance at his brother reassured him that the American was extremely proud of him and that thought was enough to relieve his nerves.

The Grand Feast started as lively as it usually does. Energetic music played in the background to heighten the already exuberant mood. Despite the mouth-watering food before him, Arthur couldn’t help but let his gaze wander back and forth between Alfred and Matthew.

He was told by Alfred last year that they were fraternal twins. Their appearances were not the problem since they looked nearly identical except for the number of unique traits they could call their own. Why the different family names, though? He found it extremely strange but he wasn’t able to dwell into it further when his stomach growled, begging to be filled by the scrumptious food before him. The boy left his thoughts to be reviewed some other time before indulging himself with Hogwarts’ cuisine.

* * *

 

  
“Art, you don't understand, he’s just so so cute!”

“You have talked about _nothing_ but Jones’ Hufflepuff brother for the past two hours. Surely, he can't be that interesting.” It was a few hours after the end of the Grand Feast. All of the students, besides the first-years, have already been sent to their respective common rooms while the youngest ones were taken out by their Headboy and Headgirl for the tour of the castle. Both Arthur and Lovino bid the first-years luck in the Welcoming Ceremony. The one _they_  attended was a disaster, and this year, they were sure it would be even worse in terms of danger. The other Slytherins had decided to turn in early while a remaining few still hung around in the Commons.

It was only Arthur, Gilbert and Lovino by the leather couches with the older one taking up an entire three-seater by lying down on it while the two second years each took up a loveseat. It was a strange trio but though they didn’t  seem like it from the outside, they got along pretty well.

“Well, you haven’t really met him. He was just so… Ugh, really cute and shy!” The sixth-year student buried his face into his hands, frantically rolling about like a girl talking about her crush. “Why does he have to be a first-year?! I feel like I’m having a crush on a kid!”

Arthur sighed in irritation and merely shook his head. “Have you not been listening to me? He’s Jones’ twin that was left behind a year due to poor health. He’s the same age as Alfred and I.”

Gilbert lifted his head immediately from his palms, pouting at the blonde. “Which makes it even worse! It’s like I’m dating _you_! And how do you even know so much about him? You haven't even met little Mattie!”

“ _Little Mattie?_ ” Both the British and Italian boy yelled in unison, the brunette furrowing his eyebrows in mild disgust while the blonde was sputtering a bit to keep down an uncharacteristic but genuine laugh.

“Shut the _hell_ up and answer it!”

“Contrary to popular belief, Jones and I were actually _friends_ once.” Just thinking back on that time was giving Arthur a splitting headache. What he would give to have a cup of steaming tea right now. Too bad eating or drinking wasn’t allowed in the common rooms. “He told me a lot about his family and vice versa. How do you think he knows about my circumstances? That’s how I know about Matthew.”

The answer seemed to have satisfied his sibling, who slumped back into the couch and groaned into his hands once more. While Gilbert bemoaned over his situation, Lovino turned to Arthur in inquiry.

“Why aren’t the two of you friends anymore, anyway?” The brunette crossed his arms, cocking his head to lean against the back rest of the loveseat. “If we didn’t know any better, you guys look like a couple fighting like cat and dog.”

Arthur almost choked on his own air at the assumption, his face turning flush red with mortification. Gilbert tried hard to suppress his own laughter, failing badly when he cackled loudly and fought to catch his breath.

“Oh my God! That’s the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard haha! Good one, Lovino!”

“Oi! Knock it off! I don’t have any romantic feelings for Jones! Where the bloody hell did you even get that assumption?! Just because you and Tonio are like that, doesn’t mean it’s the same for Jones and I!”

It was the Italian’s turn to blush, his face turning warm and red from the accusation.

“That bastard and I have nothing so crude between us so shut the fuck up!”

Their loud banter earned them an earful of scolding and detention the next day since one of the prefects was woken up because of it. Arthur found it rather inconvenient since he had lessons with Vlad after classes. Now that he thought about it, the professor didn’t really tell him what they were going to do for the extra lessons. Was it just going to be a repetition of the classes that were held?

‘Hopefully not…’ The blonde huffed to himself. He already read about the lessons that was in their curriculum for the year beforehand. Knowing his professor, he was slightly reassured that these lessons would be something different. It was a bit shameful that he was going to miss the first day of it due to detention. The boy sighed softly in disappointment as he walked towards the venue for his detention, pushing the old wooden door open.

Green eyes blinked in surprise to find his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor by the teacher’s desk. Professor Vlad chuckled to himself, rounding the desk to sit on top of the wooden surface. “Good evening, Arthur. I’ll be looking after you during your detention time.”

“But how did-”

“... I know? I volunteered to look after you myself. Students thought detention with me were the most horrid ones, but on the contrary, I use this time to do productive things. It’s not my normal protocol but we will be taking this time for your private lessons so that we won’t be wasting any of our time. Can’t have you be too behind Alfred, after all.”

The student drew out a hefty sigh. “I apologize, sir.”

The brunette merely shook his head, waving off the apology before reaching back to take a book… _A few thick books_ from the desk’s drawer. The blonde stared at it in horror. “We have about four hours to fill up. Better get productive, eh?”

* * *

 

 

“Damn, you look horrible, did you even get any sleep?” Gilbert was one of the many who had asked the same nagging question all day. Arthur truly appreciated the concern, he really did, but hearing it repeatedly on a bad day like this was incredibly testing his patience.

No, he didn’t get enough sleep. Professor Vlad was intent on lecturing about deeper understanding on magical creatures, especially the darker variety. It was the topic of merpeople, centaurs, and unicorns which eventually turned to Grindylows, werewolves and lethifolds. Besides the droning lecture, the brunette had taught him a various number of jinxes and hexes that weren’t in the curriculum. Arthur had read about a number of them but he never actually thought he would be able to perform any of it so soon.

The hours of spell casting took a toll on the boy’s physique. He felt drained from the endless expulsion of magic, his body feeling heavier than the day before. The sensation that plagued his body was alike having a terrible flu but Arthur didn’t feel cold or anything.

“I was reading some books last night and I didn’t realize the time after a couple of chapters…” It wasn’t exactly a lie. The books that their DADA professor had lent him drained plenty of his time from the thickness of it. It just wasn't like one of his light reading sessions.

“I don’t really care about what you do in your free time but we have to be the ones to screen the Quidditch try-outs and I don’t want you falling asleep on me, Art.” The sixth-year only sighed as he tugged his gloves on, stretching out his fingers before fastening the leather.

The Slytherin team was in peril this year. None of them really realized that last year’s team, though strong and unbeatable, was full of seventh-years and now they're down to just the two of them the beginning of this school year since most of them graduated last term. That was why try-outs were so early into the semester.

Arthur only nodded silently in response, too tired to give a coherent one, and pulled his Quidditch sweater and robes on. It was clumsier than he would have liked, letting out a frustrating huff before fixing himself up better. He didn’t fully feel the authority of being a co-captain. Maybe because he felt like he didn’t really earn it by recognition but only got the title automatically because it was just him and Gilbert on the team that moment.

After putting on their uniforms, both Slytherin captain and co-captain made their way to the pitch where a few other Slytherins waited. Even though all of them were in the same house, Arthur barely recognized any of them. The only one he knew was…

“Lovino?” To say the least, the blonde was pleasantly shocked. His fellow housemate didn’t show interest in any of the games before hand, only watching a handful of the Slytherin games. “You’re trying out for Quidditch?”

The auburn brunette turned his head towards the call of his name, shrugging a bit at the question. “Mn, yeah. Veneziano’s trying out for the Gryffindor team as a chaser. I know for sure that he’s a good player so I’m trying out for Keeper.”

“I didn’t even know that Feliciano was interested in Quidditch…”

“Well he is.” Arthur knew better than to press more. Lovino was rather sensitive when it came to being compared to his younger twin. He kept his mouth shut. “Better look out for him, not that you need to. All you have to worry about is the golden snitch after all.”

The blonde nodded in reply, walking back to Gilbert who was yelling to quiet down the crowd. He noticed that Lovino was the only second-year trying out. There were a few from the other years but the most promising ones were the fifth-years.

There were about three of them. Arthur assumed them to be siblings since they were uncontrollably rowdy around each other, and because of the fact they look alike. The tallest of the three was a redhead, and the loudest one to boot. The ginger’s hair was parted at the center rather messily. The middle one was an auburn brunette, who was just as noisy and rowdy as the redhead, while the last, the shortest one, was a strawberry blonde, though much more mellow compared to the two. What really caught his eyes was their identical emerald eyes. There was something warm that seemed to exude from them, like a bonfire that kept him from the cold. It felt familiar even though he barely knew them. It sent something in his stomach boiling excitedly.

“Gilbert.”

“Hah?”

“Who are those three?” Arthur lifted a hand to point to the trio, the red-haired of the three laughing boisterously at what the strawberry blonde had said while the brunette one just shook his head. Gilbert looked at his brother incredulously.

“You dunno them? They're the Kirkland brothers, new prefects. They're bad company if you ask me.” Arthur raised an eyebrow in question while the older only sighed and scratched his nape. “Kirklands and Beilschmidts have a bit of a thing going on like who’s the best wizard family and all. It was the Kirklands who started it, if you're wondering, those pompous bastards.”

Arthur blinked owlishly at the new information, having paid attention to his brother intently that his gaze fell away from the trio. He didn’t notice the Kirklands walking up to them just a few minutes earlier, having already stood behind the blonde. Large hands grasped Arthur’s shoulders, the boy jolting immediately at the touch, and quickly turned his head to look at the intruder.

“What's this I’m hearing about Kirkland being the best bloodline ever?” It was the redhead who cackled, obviously finding mirth in annoying Gilbert. The white-haired, sixth-year gritted his teeth at the taller fifth-year, who simply sneered down with a smirk. “Still bitter about being second-rate, Beilschmidt? I didn't know you could hold a grudge for so long.”

The two Kirklands, who stood back by the redhead, also snickered, one snorting just a bit while the other had politely lifted a hand to muffle his chuckles.

“Did you just try out for Quidditch just so you can show us up or something?” Arthur saw his brother’s hands closing into fists. Not good.

“Of course not, how could you accuse us of such ungentlemanly acts?” For a moment, the redhead looked hurt only for Arthur to realize that it was fake. “And you didn’t even introduce us to the renowned Slytherin seeker slash your sweet little brother here, how rude…”

Arthur found himself being spun around, almost losing his footing at the turn before he was effectively stopped by hands on his shoulders once again. He was faced with piercing green eyes, as if they had the same set of emerald orbs. For a moment, he swore he saw shock grace those similar viridian orbs. Maybe it was just as fake as that hurt expression from awhile ago.

The taller male pulled back, letting go of the golden blonde’s small shoulders. Arthur didn’t realize how heavy those hands were on his shoulders. Those hands would be perfect for holding the Quaffle, he mused to himself.

“The name’s Alistair. Alistair Kirkland.” The redhead held out a hand towards him. Arthur bit his lip for a moment before reaching out to grab it, keeping his grip firm around the one that encased his and shook it. When Alistair let go of him, the fifth year pointed to the brunette to his left. “This is Collins.”

“I can introduce myself, thank you very much!” The auburn-haired male huffed and grinned down at the golden blonde. “ ‘m Collins Kirkland, pleasure to meet ‘ya.”

The strawberry blonde stepped forward. “And my name is Dylan Kirkland. It is good to finally make  your acquaintance, Arthur.”

Arthur only nodded mutely, pursing his lips together. He wasn't sure what he could say to these three. There was something about the entire meeting that made him feel uneasy. Uneasy in a way that he should know about these three but he doesn’t.

Gilbert had reached out to grab his head, making the blonde shriek inwardly. How many times was he going to be grabbed suddenly in one day?

“Now that we have wasted enough time, we need to get try-outs started already!”

Try-outs went swimmingly. They were able to fill out every single position, which fulfilled their primary goal. It was also a relief that none of them were seventh-year students, the oldest one being Gilbert who was at his sixth year. Lovino was the primary keeper while a third-year student was chosen as a secondary one in case Lovino got knocked out in a game. Though the brunette showed no interest initially, he was definitely an asset when he effectively blocked Gilbert’s scoring. Alistair, Collins and Dylan were also accepted into the team. Alistair was chosen as a primary chaser while the other two were beaters. They were also talented players, although Gilbert himself wouldn't admit that out loud.

Arthur found that this team could be even more skilled than the year before this. There was not one game in which they suffered terrible losses, and in every game they won, they completely dominated. He savoured the look of shock on Francis’ face, the sixth-year Ravenclaw chaser, when they ended the Slytherin-Ravenclaw game in under half an hour. The only team that matched up to them was their one true rival, Gryffindor.

He wasn’t going to acknowledge any of the sorry expressions Jones had on his face. There were a number of times during a Gryffindor-Slytherin game when he was searching for the Golden Snitch, in which Jones looked at him with an underlying tone of remorse. Remorse for exactly what, he didn’t know nor could he possibly care. But if he was going to be honest to himself, he had missed the affinity they had for each other. They could have been good friends if they were sorted into the same house. But Arthur wasn’t going to trade being a Slytherin for any other house. He was a proud snake, even though there were some housemates of his that didn’t acknowledge him being in Slytherin for reasons that always slipped past him. Not that he cared though, there wasn’t anything they could offer for him so why play nice?

The only thing he needed to worry about for the rest of the year was the training with Professor Vlad and maintaining his high marks.

Which was why he didn’t understand what Professor Vlad was telling him one evening near the end of the school year during their extra training.

“Sir… What do you mean you have to halt our lessons for next year?” He was at loss of what to do. He didn’t have a firm grasp on the situation, what was going on even? The brunette only sighed and closed the books he had lent to him. Arthur had to give those back before the professor broke the news to him.

“You see, Arthur, I only realized as of late that these lessons have been taking much of your time that you could have been using for studying for your other classes.”

“But I’ve been managing well with my other classes! I’m doing just fine!-”

Professor Vlad simply shook his head and tutted. “You don’t seem to be sharing the same concerns as Professor Arlovskaya. She herself told me that you have been lagging behind in her class.”

_‘Potions class.’_ Arthur finally realized, his face paling a bit. It wasn’t his fault that Professor Arlovskaya was much more concerned with observing him than teaching during class. But he had to admit that hands-on activities in potions class weren’t going well with him. He followed the book for every single instructions, but it always blew up on him one way or another.

“... So I’ve asked her to assign her best student to tutor you, who on the other hand, needs your help in Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

The blonde pursed his lips, not liking the fact that it was another student who was going to be teaching him. He wasn’t going to be able to live this down if anyone else knew he needed tutoring. He sighed in surrender, crossing his arms across his chest. “Alright, fine. Who is it, then?”

“I think the two of you will get along splendidly, if I must say so myself!” The DADA professor smiled that eerie smile of his, “None other than _Alfred F. Jones_ , of course.”

Silence filled the air, the Slytherin gawking at the professor.

“Sir, you have got to be bloody kidding me.” It was a flat tone, completely matching the visibly paling expression of the blonde. This couldn't be happening, this was a joke, a prank. “Why him of all people?! And doesn’t he have arrangements with Professor Romulos already?!”

“On the contrary…” Professor Vlad sat down on the chair behind the teacher’s desk. “Romulos and I have both agreed to halt the lessons for the both of you for the mean time. Alfred is flunking my class so if it’s anyone, it’s him who direly needs your help.”

“Why should I help him?”

“If you don’t, you’re going to be missing the rest of your training.” Arthur put up the most intimidating stare that he could muster. Of course, it served to have no effect on the professor. The blonde let out a relenting sigh. He couldn’t afford for that to happen.

“Fine.”

* * *

 

 

Choosing electives was a certain Gryffindor’s prominent problem, besides his flunking grade in Defense against the Dark Arts. He had the interest for it since hearing about it from his Auror father made it seem rather exciting. Just the thought of fighting against Dark Wizards and Witches heightened his hero complex all the more. It was disappointing to know he didn’t have as much talent in it as his father did.

Alfred sighed to himself, causing concern to the surrounding Gryffindors on the table during dinner, especially to the brown-haired male who sat beside him.

“Hey, what’s wrong, Alfred? It’s not like you to sigh like that.” It was his friend, Toris. They were also roommates in the dorm, having come from the same year.

At first, the blonde had mistaken the brunette for a girl due to the length of his hair, which earned him an annoyed but yielding sigh. Besides that initial misunderstanding, Alfred could say that he and Toris were rather close now.

“I don’t know what classes I should take for electives, none of them really interest me…” Alfred really didn’t want to talk about flunking a class. It would definitely smudge the reputation he had for being the golden boy of the school.

Toris only showed him a worried smile, who patted his back in an attempt to comfort him.

“Well, if you don’t like any of the electives, you could always choose the easiest ones. So you don’t have to worry about it too much. Some students take Divination as a joke subject since it’s rather easy to pass. So, maybe you can have Divination as one of your choices?”

Alfred only grunted in reply. “I really don’t want to take a joke subject but I’ll think about it, thanks.”

“Anytime, Al.”

It took a while for the duo to realize the looming presence behind the American. It was Toris who noticed before Alfred did, turning his head up only for his expression to turn into that of mild surprise to find Arthur standing right behind Alfred with a piercing green glare fixated on the back of the blonde’s head.

“U-Um, Al? Were you expecting Arthur?” Alfred looked at the brunette in confusion before leaning back to find the Slytherin right behind him. The bespectacled blonde let out a surprised yelp, jerking back to fully look at Arthur. Everyone seemed to notice the commotion, whispers and murmurs filling the silence in which the two blondes merely stared at each other.

Arthur coughed once to fruitlessly break the thick wall of tension. “Come with me, Jones. I have something to talk to you about.”

With the English boy’s hand shooting out to grab the American, Alfred couldn’t say anything to retaliate, dumbfounded as he was pulled from his seat to be dragged out of the Great Hall by the lithe male.

It wasn’t until they were out of the hall did Alfred start struggling, tugging his arm free from the Slytherin student. “What’s the big idea, Arthur? I was busy eating!”

The Brit merely scoffed at the excuse. “This is much more important than your horrendous appetite complaining. It’s about you failing Professor Vlad’s class-”

“SHH!” Alfred immediately slapped a hand over the other’s running mouth, who was obviously not pleased with being cut-off while speaking. The taller male took the other to a much more secluded location, behind a pillar, before removing his hand from Arthur’s mouth.

“Don’t talk so loud!” The American hissed lowly, blue eyes narrowing to glare at bored green eyes. “Okay, so what about it? I don’t wanna hear you making fun of me for it just because you’re better at it.”

Arthur merely rolled his eyes, his heart aching a bit. Was that how Alfred saw him? Someone whose sole purpose is to put down someone else? He shook his head. “No. I’m here because Professor Vlad asked me himself to tutor you for his class.”

“Right, like you would do that, the oh-so-great Arthur Beilschmidt.” Alfred scoffed, frowning.

“Instead of looking quite irritated at me, you should at least be grateful I’m extending a hand towards you..”

The Gryffindor rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “If you want me to be grateful, you wouldn’t be asking a favor in return for this.”

The English boy started to look sheepish, making Alfred frown more. Of course this wasn’t out of pure concern. Arthur only sighed and covered his eyes with his palm. “Unfortunately, I do need a favor in return.”

“Oh great.”

“Be quiet. I just…” Arthur paused, swallowing the lump that gripped his voice. His pride was yelling at him not to push through with it but he really needed the extra lessons. “I need help in potions class.”

For a moment, Alfred was at lost of what to say, blinking slowly to take in the information. It was a rare sight to see Arthur like this, nervous and unsure of what to do. Arthur Beilschmidt in front of him, asking for help. It was pure gold. The bespectacled blonde started to grin.

“What was that, Artie? Didn’t quite hear you there.” He took on a singsong tune, grinning down at the shorter male. He relished in the sight of the growing redness on the other blonde’s cheeks.

Alfred didn’t really realize how cruel he was being to him.

Just the thought of begging that moment made Arthur’s stomach twist painfully. He could always turn back on his word on having this kind of arrangement with Alfred but that would mean not having those extra lessons. Arthur didn’t realize he was already close to tears, a few escaping his tear ducts to caress his cheeks gently.

“I need _your help_ in Potions class in exchange for my help in Defense Against the Dark Arts, you git.” Arthur forced out the words from his throat like it was pure burning acid. Alfred’s smug expression broke at the sight of the other male. He didn’t really mean to take his teasing this far, after all. He sighed softly before raising a hand to place it on the shorter blonde’s messy locks.

“Geez, Artie. I was just kidding about what I said. Don’t look like a kicked puppy.” The Gryffindor murmured quietly, ruffling the locks a bit. Arthur seemed frozen for a moment, looking like deer caught in headlights as he continued to brush his fingers through the blonde locks. Alfred concluded that he liked the feeling. Collecting his bearings, Arthur frowned, rubbing his forearm to wipe the tears, and hurriedly pushed off the palm from his head.

“Don’t touch me so casually.” The Slytherin grumbled which earned him an annoyed roll of the sky blue eyes. Arthur realized he hasn’t seen much of those baby blues, cherishing every single moment he was able to glance at them.

“Whatever Artie.” The taller boy shrugged and his gaze fell back on the other blonde. “So, our sessions every evening after classes then? We should meet somewhere though. It’ll be difficult since both of us are in different houses so common rooms are out. It needs to be somewhere private too since I don’t want anyone finding out that I need tutoring with DADA.”

_‘Or maybe you would rather not be seen with me.’_ Arthur added in his head bitterly before sighing softly. He racked his brain for any ideas for venues. Couldn’t be any of the classrooms since it has to be somewhere no one could enter once they are inside. Then his eyes lit up in delight. He knew the perfect place. “Come with me.”

From the Great Hall, the blonde duo climbed the stairs to reach the Hall of hexes on the seventh floor. It was a lengthy walk from the ground floor but not one of them talked the entire way. The air was too thick to be sliced by meager, small talk.

Arthur stopped in front a wall at the end of the hall, sizing up the wall with his gaze. Then he started to walk back and forth in front of it, his eyes closed and eyebrows furrowing in concentration. Alfred watched the other male in total confusion.

“Uh, Artie? What’cha doin there?” He asked skeptically, a bit miffed about not receiving an immediate response. It didn’t even seem like Arthur had heard him. He huffed indignantly. “Hey Arthur-”

Alfred was cut short, his jaw dropping open when intricate engravings started to form on the stone wall. Slowly, a wooden door emerged from the confinements of the concrete wall. Arthur walked up in front of it nonchalantly, the door opening on its own.

“I found this room when I was wandering around the castle one night back in first year. Apparently it’s the Room of Requirement.” Alfred nodded mutely as he followed the Brit inside the room before the door closed behind them. It was a fairly large room alight with floating candles high up near the high ceiling. The walls were covered with bookshelves, what seems to be hundred of books filling up each gap. Two leather couches were by a fireplace, a small wooden table in between the furniture.

“This is really cool…” Alfred murmured as he looked around more, approaching one of the couches to slump himself on it.

“The Room of Requirement only comes to those who have a real need for it,” Arthur let his hand trail the spine of the books on the shelves. “And it’s always equipped for the seeker’s needs.”

“So if I really needed a toilet when passing by this room then…” Alfred trailed off and leaned his head back to fix his gaze on the other blonde’s back.

Arthur rolled his eyes but smiled to himself. “Yes, Alfred. That’s the gist of it.” For a while, the bespectacled blonde was eerily silent to the point that the Brit had to turn around to look at the other to make sure he was still in the room. “Jones?”

“That was the first time you called me by my name in a really long time.” It was said plainly and bluntly but the surprise was visibly etched on Alfred’s face and eyes. “You’ve only been calling me by my last name since… Last year.”

The realization suddenly dawning made blood rise to Arthur’s cheeks in mortification. He palmed his face and groaned. “It was a slip of the tongue.”

“Riiight.” The Gryffindor said in amusement as he stood up from the couch, already making his way to the exit. “Well, t’was fun talking to you after such a long time but I really need to go to bed.” He shrugged sheepishly.

Arthur only shook his head. “No, I need to catch some sleep as well… Although, I would be looking around here for a while longer.”

“Suit yourself.” Alfred shrugged as he walked towards the door, holding the door’s handle and pushed it open. He halted in his movements, turning to face the other blonde who continued to browse title after title on the bookshelves. “Hey Artie?”

“Stop calling me that.”

Alfred ignored the candid statement. “Have you already decided on the electives that you will be taking after our break?”

There was a prolonged silence that emanated from the question. It was so silent that Alfred wasn’t sure if Arthur was even going to answer and all and was already about to leave when the blonde piped up.

“... Care of Magical Creatures and Divination.” Alfred was barely able to catch the answer, turning his head back to point his gaze at the Slytherin.

“Why Divination? Ya think it’s the easiest subject too?” The taller blonde wasn’t expecting the slow shaking of the other boy’s head.

“On the contrary, I find Divination as one of the difficult branches of magic. Easiest to pass, yes, but to learn the true art of it takes true skill. Plenty of people find it rather skeptical since, I admit, is inaccurate most of the time.” The way Arthur looked at Alfred that moment, he couldn’t forget it. Something in the Gryffindor’s heart stopped for just a moment, enamored by how intense those green eyes dug into his own ocean hues. “Mastering it would be a skill that can terrify even the most powerful of wizards and witches.”

Alfred swallowed to get rid of the lump that had formed so suddenly in his throat. He had felt goosebumps rise on his skin. The more he thought about it, the more it made complete sense.

“How about you? Have you thought of your electives?” Alfred jolted a bit at the sudden question, answering the other blonde’s inquiry in less than a heartbeat, his mouth running faster than his mind was.

“I’m taking Care of Magical Creatures and Divination too.” The bespectacled blonde couldn’t take his eyes off the tired smile that graced Arthur’s lips, who shook his head in acceptance.

“I see, so I will be seeing you in those classes as well this coming school year.” Awkwardness started to settle over them. It was an improvement from the tension-filled air but not any closer to the friendly atmosphere they had when they still truly got along.

“Um… Goodnight, Artie.” Alfred murmured quietly, most likely to whisper to himself before turning to leave the room, closing the door behind him. Arthur was left inside the Room of Requirement, a gentle haze taking over his eyes as he continued to scan the titles leisurely.

“Goodnight Alfred.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is chapter is their entire 2nd year-- As I've said before, not much happens in their early years ;; v;; This is basically another introductory chapter since so much characters were introduced aaaaa 
> 
> And yes, there will be a bit of PruCan in this fic because they're just super adorable together u mu
> 
> Some clarifications of already introduced characters on their year levels as of this chapter:  
> 1st year: Matthew  
> 2nd year: Alfred, Arthur, Toris, Feliciano and Lovino  
> 4th year: Ludwig  
> 5th year: Alistair, Collins and Dylan  
> 6th year: Francis, Antonio and Gilbert


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Start of the third year! As of this chapter, these are the year levels of already introduced characters.  
> 2nd year: Matthew  
> 3rd year: Alfred, Arthur, Toris, Feliciano and Lovino  
> 5th year: Ludwig  
> 6th year: Alistair, Collins and Dylan  
> 7th year: Francis, Antonio and Gilbert (Graduation approaching!)

_It was dark. No matter how much one would try to look into the darkness, there was nothing to be seen. A shaky hand reached out and it was only met with tight, empty air. The silence was deadly to the eardrums, stabbing the sense of hearing like a knife. His limbs were frozen in place as if invisible threads coiled around his body._

_Arthur tried to scream, but he couldn’t hear himself. His voice was simply lost to the dismal darkness. His heart pounded in his chest like a beating drum, reverberating within his body. It was aggravating, making him unable to collect his thoughts. He couldn’t focus._

_At a distance, green eyes settled on a growing form. A part of him was surprised that he could see something in this darkness but another part of him was terrified. He didn’t know where he was and there was something,_ someone _, coming closer. As the figure got closer, he was able to distinguish the unruly sandy blonde hair, pale skin and magnetizing emerald eyes. His thoughts took a while for him to gather, to realize that the one before him was a person._

_It was like looking at a mirror. The person was a splitting image of him, but something about them sent his beating heart to the pits of his stomach._

_Voice stuck to his throat, Arthur was unable to make a single noise. He felt trapped._

_“I will smite every single mudblood who taints these walls. Open… Open the Chamber of Secrets...” The mirror image began to speak, the tone used rigid and stiff. Arthur only noticed that the green eyes identical to his own were dull and empty, like a porcelain doll’s glassy eyes. “Speak to me, Salazar Slytherin… Greatest of the Hogwarts four. Release your basilisk.”_

_There were distinct hissing noises that soon followed the words. From the darkness, a massive form slithered from its depths. It was scaly, pitch black in color. Its teeth were like grass that had sprout haphazardly around the crown of its mouth, the prominent teeth being the long slender canines. Piercing yellow eyes were distinct from the darkness that surrounded it, as if they were glowing. It got closer, sliding towards him like a predator stalking its prey. Then it stopped. There was a voice that rang in his head, making the boy scream, writhe, and collapse._

_It was the basilisk that spoke to him, in a way that was tender and that in itself greatly terrified him._

_“Master…”_

Arthur woke up in cold sweat, springing to sit up on his bed. Green eyes darted around in alarm just to find himself in the confinements of his room back in London, the time still deep into the night, judging from the pitch black sky glittering with bright stars. The curtains didn’t fully cover the glass panes of his windows, the full moon high and bright on the starry sky. He turned his head to check the time on his clock by the bedside table. It was already a little bit past midnight, the first of September. He needed to get more rest if he wanted to catch the express to Hogwarts in the morning.

The blonde couldn’t help but to lift a hand to his face, a helpless sob escaping his lips. There were deep, dark bags resting underneath his eyes, an obvious sign of stress and lack of sleep.

The dream that he just had has been a recurring theme for the past months. This specific summer had been particularly dreadful. There will always be darkness, the inability to move, a deafening hiss and that boy… The boy that looked exactly like him. Just thinking about it made his head hurt.

He chose to believe that the boy in his dreams was a figment of his imagination, someone who was not real, and someone who was definitely not him despite them looking quite identical.

It was nothing but a dream, right?

* * *

 

The start of the semester has always been the laziest part of the school year besides coming back from winter break. Students moved sluggishly, all the more for teachers although they didn’t openly show it. Alfred found it hard to adjust his body clock to the schedule like he always did the past two years in Hogwarts.

The summer break had been a whole lot more eventful than the previous ones since he started studying at Hogwarts. Unlike the other breaks, he was able to come back to America for the vacation. His mother had been ecstatic to see him at the airport when he came back along with his twin brother. The excitement was only natural since it had been at least a year since the three had seen each personally since the twins stayed with their father in London ever since they started their studies in Hogwarts.

Coming back to Great Britain after a measly summer vacation only intensified Alfred’s longing to come back to America and permanently staying there. It’s not that he wasn’t enjoying his stay in Hogwarts but homesickness got to him more often than he would like to admit. Matthew was able to adjust easier and smoother than he did but that was because his twin didn’t need to worry about a lot of things. At least he thought he thought his brother didn’t think too much about a lot of things. Alfred had a lot on his plate and a part of him couldn’t deal with it.

He wasn’t going to admit that Arthur took a large portion of his worries.

When Alfred saw Arthur during the Grand Feast, he wasn’t going to lie that the Slytherin student looked absolutely dreadful. Though the boy was particularly graceful in his movements, he seemed to move slower as of late. He was worried about Arthur but he thought it was normal since everyone else seemed to be tired as well.

Starting the year with Divination class multiplied the laziness tenfold for plenty of students. But sitting in the same table as Arthur continued to bother the American, messing up his emotions without even knowing. Though he enjoyed the long needed rest in his home country, there was not a single day which the English boy didn’t cross his mind. Arthur occupied his thoughts, no matter what Alfred did to will the thoughts and questions away.

Were they friends again? Would his other friends accept Arthur? Alfred scoffed at the thought. There was no way they would accept the Slytherin. But what if they did? They would do it for Alfred, right?

“... Leaves to predict the future?”

Alfred was snapped out of his thoughts when he was faced with the gentle face of their Divination Professor, Madam Braginskaya. She was a heavy-chested woman who had large, tender blue eyes that had a habit of turning violet in the correct lighting. Unlike her sister, Madam Arlovskaya, she kept her platinum blonde hair short and neat. She was also much nicer than the said brash Potions Professor.

“Huh?” Arthur, who sat across him, merely groaned at his rather smart answer and palmed his face.

“You probably didn’t hear me, Mr. Jones.” Alfred couldn’t be sure that she was totally fine with him not paying attention to her lecture. The blonde could feel a bead of sweat trickle from his forehead. “What do you call the art of reading tea leaves to predict the future?”

Shit, even when he heard the question loud and clear, he still had no idea as to what the answer was. Pleading blue eyes turned to his Divination partner for help. The other blonde simply shook his head but the blatant annoyance on his face didn’t stop his lips from moving to mouth the answer. For a moment, Alfred had paid close attention to those lips, watching in awe as they brushed against the boy’s palm. Only then did he realize how those lips looked really soft.

Alfred was going to pretend he didn’t just think Arthur’s lips were soft.

“T-Tessomancy!” The American blurted out, quickly turning his gaze away from the Slytherin student. He felt blood rise to his cheeks and he prayed to the heavens, hoping that no one could read his mind that moment.

Despite his choked and seemingly forced answer, Madam Braginskaya seemed rather pleased with his reply. “Correct. Five points to Gryffindor! Now, I want you all to brew your tea with the teapot you have on your desks. You will be reading your partner’s tea cup and consulting your copy of the ‘Unfogging the Future’ for the meaning.”

There was a chorus of whines and groans that filled the room, with the professor shushing the students quite ineffectively. The two blondes turned to face each other but there was no way Alfred could look at Arthur without his previous thoughts resurfacing. The third-year Slytherin raised an eyebrow at the sudden meekness.

“What, are you disgusted with me to the point of not being able to look at me?” Arthur drawled out blankly, those emerald green orbs showing no signs of amusement. Alfred hurriedly turned his baby blue eyes to look at the bored green eyes. His lips were curled into a pout. There was no way he would be able to look at Arthur’s lips the same way ever again.

“Whaaat? Where did you even get that idea? Really, Artie. You’re too sensitive for your own good.” He teased lightly, despite the flush of embarrassment on his cheeks. He could always blame the heat for it. Arthur rolled his eyes as his hands reached for the small porcelain pot on the centerpiece of the desk. The boy took out his wand and pointed it to the open pot. Alfred eyed the instrument. For some strange reason, he had always been enamored by how Arthur knew so many spells that weren’t even discussed in class yet.

 _“Aguamenti.”_ A jet of clear water spilled out from the tip of the wand like a stream, filling the pot up to the brim. When it was filled, Arthur gave another flick of his wand to heat it up until steam rose up from the opening of the pot. The American looked from the wand to Arthur in awe before grinning widely.

“Man, that was really cool, Art!”

“I’m positive that you’re only saying that so I would teach it to you.” It was obvious from the sheepish laugh that Alfred released that Arthur has hit right on the mark.

Alfred pointed at the water that sat stagnant inside the teapot. “Well, we haven’t talked about that in class. Where did you even pick it up? Can you teach it to me?”

The Brit boy scoffed. “Unlike some other people, I actually read books in my spare time. I’ll teach you one day. For now, we have to brew the tea and drink it.”

Alfred dropped the topic as soon as the other turned away to prepare the tea. After Arthur dipped the leaves for the water to soak it up, he poured just the right amount on each of their teacups. It was Alfred who was quick to consume the scalding drink, only to grimace at the horrid taste. It was rather bland. He could compare it to eating raw vegetables in liquid form. The green-eyed blonde only rolled his eyes and politely sipped at his hot beverage like a civilized person would.

“Ugh… How could you like something so icky?”

For a moment, the young Gryffindor really thought that the dark glare Arthur sent his way was the only reply he was going to get.

“You just could not appreciate the taste of nicely brewed tea, you uncultured swine.” Arthur hissed out lowly.

“Can’t blame me for not liking the taste of leaf water. Put lotsa sugar on this and just maybe I’ll consider drinking this more.” Alfred could only snicker at the offended expression that took over the other boy’s face. Despite their wounded friendship from before, friendly banters with Arthur were always amusing. But since their talk on the last week of school last year, their banters as of late had less of a bite. It was more like teasing, a gentle tug and pull with each other. Alfred decided that he liked it better this way.

“That’s horrid. Don’t ever consider doing that around me.” Arthur placed his now empty cup in front of the bespectacled blonde and exchanged it for his own cup that has been long been devoid of tea.

“Alright class!” Madam Braginskaya started up once everyone has exchanged cups with their partners. “I would like you to broaden your mind… Open it up and look beyond! This way, it’ll be easier to see what lies in the future…”

The students merely exchanged confused glances. All that their teacher said was absolute rubbish. No one could read anything on drenched tea leaves.

“You boy!” The two blondes turned their heads to follow the path where their Professor was going, finding that she made her way towards Lovino, who was a few tables away from them. The boy looked utterly lost, despite the attempts in concentrating on the symbols in his partner’s cup. It was nothing but a couple of lumped tea leaves to him.

“Is your grandfather well? Ah…” The platinum blonde woman moved closer to the Italian’s table, taking his cup from his partner’s grip and looked forlornly at it. “Oh my… What a pity…”

The auburn brunette gulped, distress clearly evident on his features. His hand shot out to take his cup from his partner, looking at it in only more confusions. Alfred felt bad for him.

“Alright then, Jones.” Arthur’s voice snapped Alfred’s attention back to him, the boy’s head whipping to the sound of the Brit’s voice. The green-eyed boy took his book, placing it on the table to flip over to Professor Braginskaya’s designated pages. Unlike the rest of the class, Arthur took the class rather seriously. Alfred almost found it rather boring if it wasn’t for the fact that seeing and even predicting the future sounded rather cool. Or maybe just looking at Arthur was cool for him. “I’ll start reading yours so you would be able to see how it goes.”

The Gryffindor watched the other turn his teacup around and occasionally glancing over the pages of his Divination book. He was almost tempted to push a finger over a deep crease on the Brit’s forehead that was formed from concentration. He noticed that Arthur was always furrowing his eyebrows like this. It was only going to give him an early wrinkle. 

“This one right here looks sort of like a cap… it says here that the cup means ‘trouble ahead, be careful’. And the only other thing I can figure out is that this is shaped like an hourglass which signifies time running out and a decision...” Arthur only furrowed his thick eyebrows more. Alfred’s need to press his thumb on the Brit boy’s growing crease only intensified. “I’m not sure if this is a bad omen or not but your cup is telling you that there’s trouble ahead of you soon, and you need to make a quick decision about it.”

Shivers ran down Alfred’s spine. “Oh c’mon, Artie! Don’t scare me like that!”

“I’m not scaring you! Not intentionally, that is. And stop calling me that, you oaf! It’s Arthur, not Artie!” Arthur merely huffed. “It's your turn to read my fortune now.”

Alfred only grinned widely as he reached for the cup before him, turning it around until he could visualize a figure. “Uh… I’m not as good at this as you are so… There’s this squiggly line I don't really get. Buuut, this big black blob looks sort of like a hand? Says here in the book that it’s a sign of friendship! Hey, maybe it’s saying we should be better friends in the future!” Arthur could only remain silent, gnawing at his bottom lip a bit. The bespectacled blonde saw the expression on the other’s face, coughing and fidgeting awkwardly. He didn’t realize the sudden tension that formed. How to lift the said awkwardness was out of the question.

“Ah Mr. Jones, your aura is rather strong!” The two boys jolted from the stiff atmosphere they had to find Professor Braginskaya at one side of their table, eyes filled with mirth. Alfred just smiled awkwardly.

“Um, sure… I guess?” The Gryffindor let out a rather fake laugh but the professor took no mind to it. She only thrusted her hands in front of him.

“Here, here… Give me the cup.”

Alfred immediately handed in the warm porcelain to their teacher, her expression quickly shifting to concentration as she cradled the cup in her hands. She turned the cup around a few times, most likely distinguishing the shapes and signs evident among the leaves. “My dear… Unfortunately, this isn’t just a hand. It’s a wolf’s claw. You have a hidden enemy, Mr. Beilschmidt, careful wading through shallow waters… O-Oh this slender one right here is a snake. Hatred…”

Something inside Arthur ran cold. A snake? From the looks of it, it was a large one at that. That couldn’t be…

“Take good care of yourself, my boy. Your cup is nothing but a bad omen.” With a clap on his back, the professor turned to the rest of the class. “Alright, pack up, you’ll be late for your next class if you don’t hurry.”

As soon as the platinum blonde had finished with her sentence, the bell rung.

It was only Transfiguration class before it was Care of Magical Creatures class. Everyone else seemed breathtaken by how Professor Romulos had shapeshifted into a large brown dog while on the topic of Animagi. An animagi was a wizard who could transform into the animal of their choice at will. Arthur had to listen to Alfred talk about how he wanted to transform into a lion or an eagle but the words fell deaf to his ears. Divination class had gotten on his nerves and his fortune scared him.

Before Arthur knew it, it was already lunch time. He couldn't find Gilbert, Antonio and even Francis anywhere. What he would give not to be alone at this time. With a sigh, the Slytherin settled in his own house table, a select few moving away from him when he did. He still couldn't fathom why even his own housemates still antagonized him. It wasn’t as if he and Alfred still competed on who was the best as of late. It was just a rumor that stuck and continued to negatively affect him in every possible way.

The deep thoughts that preoccupied Arthur failed to make him aware of the approaching force towards him. Everyone else around them was shocked by how ecstatic Alfred looked when he sat beside Arthur on the table. It wasn't even his house table.

Green eyes blinked owlishly at the blue ones that were basically lit up with happiness and relief.

“Hey Art! We never really got to talk properly when we’re in class! You were ignoring me the entire time too! Don’t run off, alright?! It took me awhile to find you after you sped off after Transfigurations.” The bespectacled boy pouted at the other, who sighed in exasperation.

“And why would you be looking for me? Last I heard, we were competing rivals who pulled each other down..” Arthur didn’t mean the bitter tone his voice took but immediately felt bad when Alfred quickly looked crestfallen. He almost wanted to take back what he said but he stood his ground.

“Look… I just want to be friends again, you see? Before I started being a douchebag to you.” The truthfulness served to make the Brit’s heart swell. He wasn’t going to admit it but Alfred made his defenses weak. He always seemed to send his emotions in a turmoil without even trying. It was hard to refuse such charisma.

He sighed. What was the point of refusing when Alfred was only going to go after him. “Do whatever you want.”

Time seemed to burn out quickly when Arthur was around Alfred. If it wasn’t for the latter’s initial discrimination of his house, they could have stayed as friends from the beginning. Arthur realized that, although there were some things that changed, Alfred remained as bubbly as he had been since he first met him. Alfred talked about his recent visit to America. It was a refreshing change of pace for the boy since he mentioned that London wasn’t boring but the air was just too different compared to his home country. Alfred was too pumped for the next summer and ended up inviting him to come visit for the break. Of course, there was just something that made Arthur unable to refuse. It wasn’t long until the bell had rung once more in reminder of the next classes.

Their entire class walked out of the school and into a small grassy clearing near the school. Arthur was surprised to find his brother, Gilbert, Antonio and even Francis near the back of the group. Wasn’t this a third-year class? What were they doing here? The questions that popped in his head made him notice the bountiful number of seventh-years present in the class.

“Gilbert? Antonio? And even… Francis?” Arthur called out to his brother, Alfred in tow behind him. The seventh-year Slytherin glanced behind him in confusion, his two friends following, and grinned brightly.

“Well! If it isn’t my awesome little brother? And…” Piercing red eyes flicked menacingly under the light but his expressions betrayed his words. “And Alfred! It’s _absolutely wonderful_ to see you again.”

Arthur mentally cringed at the overflowing sarcasm the dripped from Gilbert’s tone. He hasn't told his brother about how he and Alfred were starting to get along as of late. It was a relief for the younger Slytherin that there were those times Alfred couldn’t read the atmosphere at all which meant he couldn't see the blatant hostility the seventh-year Slytherin showed.

“Yeah, so cool that we end up in the same class!”

Arthur glanced at the other two beside Gilbert. “Wait, why _are_ the seventh-years in the same class as us?”

It was Francis who came closer to him, even past his personal space. That prompted the boy to take a step back but even that didn’t stop the Frenchman from wrapping his arms around his neck to pet his untameable blonde locks. His body went rigid in discomfort but that didn’t keep the taller blonde away. “Ah, because the professor will do anything to keep us together, _Mon lapin~_ ”

“Hands off!” Both Arthur and Francis were surprised by the sudden outburst, both whipping his head towards the sound. Arthur would have expected such outburst from either Gilbert or even himself but for Alfred to look fuming, face red and lip tight, at the Ravenclaw’s gesture shocked him. Alfred was breathing heavily through his nose, his fists curled tightly until he forced himself to relax. There was a tense silence that wafted over them before Antonio made a move to slice it with forced laughter.

“Hey guys, let’s just get along okay?”

Francis pulled back slowly, raising his arms up in surrender and shook his head. Arthur would have rolled his head at the fake dramatic expression the seventh-year Ravenclaw had on his face but Alfred seemed satisfied at the act of surrender. At least the boy was somehow relaxed now despite his stiff posture.

Francis only shrugged. “Ah… Everyone seems to be so protective over their _L'amour de ma vie_ …”

At this point, the Frenchman glanced over at Gilbert as if indirectly pertaining to him. The latter simply scoffed and glared at him, before the former moved to another part of the class to let Gilbert cool off on his own. Arthur watched Francis flirting with another Ravenclaw, someone from the third year like Arthur. He was sure her name was Joan but he could care less, to be honest. What he didn’t know about was the rage that started to bubble up in Gilbert’s stomach, leaving the blonde shocked when he saw fresh trickles of blood starting to dribble from his brother’s lips in a result of biting his lower lip.

“... I’m making a wild guess that Francis has a fault against you.” Arthur piped up slowly, crossing his arms and waiting for his brother to gather his self control so that he wouldn’t beat his flirtatious friend. It was Antonio who ended up explaining since Gilbert didn’t look like he was going to calm down anytime soon.

“Ah well you see…” The brunette glanced over to his friend, who only nodded mutely in permission. “Francis ended up flirting with little Matthew before Gil could make his move on the boy. And Matthew admitted about possibly liking him back! Ah, poor Gil… The two of them ended up fighting, though mostly it was just Gilbert who was yelling but it got really bad.”

That explains Francis’ final words. “ _L'amour de ma vie_ , huh. No wonder…” What he didn’t get was why Francis could possible refer him as Alfred’s boyfriend. That initial thought made him think that such a thing was absolutely impossible but he couldn't shake the thought that reflected on the possibility. It made his cheeks warm. It was just that he looked uncomfortable when Francis was hugging him and Alfred’s hero tendencies reacted. Yeah, it was only for that reason. And besides, he was too young to think about those kinds of stuff! The thought served to calm down his rapidly beating heart but didn’t realize the bitterness it left in its wake.

“That bastard needs to learn that not everyone is going to fall for him.” The seventh-year Slytherin hissed out, grinding his teeth together. Arthur simply rolled his eyes. Sure he didn’t really like Francis all that much not did he know Matthew well enough to dub him as “not-worth-the-heartache,” but would his brother really tear up a lifetime of friendship with Francis over Matthew? He didn’t know, nor did he want to get involved in the predicament.

What Arthur did want right now was to try and listen to the discussion by their Professor, even if it was about something as boring as Flobberworms. Alfred kept himself amused by overfeeding a bunch of the worms, effectively killing a couple of them. The boy ended up being scolded by Arthur though. The animal cruelty wasn’t a good way to pass the time in Care of Magical Creatures class.

Their day ended with the class of Defense against the Dark arts late in the afternoon.

Professor Vlad wasn’t in the classroom when the students started to flood in the room. There were murmurs and whispers since the event was rather rare. Professor Vlad, all proper and good, was never late. Even Arthur had to wonder where he was. It was around ten minutes into the class that the door opened, revealing the brunette by the door. He didn’t make a move to enter the room though.

“Alright class!” He raised his voice that even the student who sat in front could hear him. “Today, we will have a practical lesson. Pack your things, we’re moving to another room.”

Everyone seemed to glance at each other in surprise. Never did they have a practical lesson in Defense against the Dark Arts, what made their professor start now? Arthur grew puzzled as well. This was indeed the first time they would be having a practical lesson in class. It wasn’t a new thing to him since they did plenty of hands-on activities during the lessons. Never in class but that didn’t mean he was any less interested.

“Right then,” Vlad said once the class was ready. “If you would follow me…”

They followed their professor out of the door then down the hall, up another corridor before they stopped in front of an old staffroom. It was one of the many unused rooms in the castle and all of them grew even more confused.

“Everyone, inside.” Their professor said as he opened the door, stepping aside for the stream of students to pour inside. What everyone else noticed was that the room was empty, save for a single wooden wardrobe at the end of the room. It was like the one that teachers used to store extra books and spare robes. No one seemed to pay mind to it until it started to wobble as soon as Vlad went to stand beside it. Nearly everyone stepped back and watched it shake, hearing something that was trapped inside scratch the interior of the wardrobe.

Vlad didn’t seem to pay any mind to the fear emanating from each student and only gave a smile. “Alright, so can anyone take a guess on what inside this wardrobe?”

The wooden furniture rattled under the teacher’s touch when he had placed his palm on the smooth oak surface. No one seemed to try and answer his question, their gazes transfixed on the cabinet and the shaking doorknob.

“So what we have here,” Vlad didn’t even wait for anyone to answer, eager to introduce his lesson. “... Is a boggart. Can anyone tell me what a boggart is?”

Toris raised his hand.

“A boggart is a shape-shifter. It can change to whatever our deepest, darkest fears are.” Toris said right on text.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, Mr. Lorinaitis.” Vlad turned his gaze back to the class. “This boggart here sitting in the dark has not yet assumed a form. It doesn't know what form of fear it has to take on yet because it doesn’t see you behind this door. There is not a single person who has seen a boggart in its truest form because it easily detects anyone who looks at it. When I open this door…”

Vlad knocked on the wooden surface, making his students jolt a bit when the wardrobe’s shaking got even stronger. “It immediately takes the form of whatever each of us most fear.”

“But sir,” Arthur spoke up, the entire class whipping their heads towards him. “There are about thirty of us in this room. How is it going to assume all of our fears if it’s just one?”

Vlad clasped his hands together. “Excellent question, Mr. Beilschmidt! Five points to Slytherin. That, class, is our advantage over the boggart. When facing one, it is best that you have company with you so that it will be confused with what form it takes. There is also a charm that will help you repel a boggart. The incantation is fairly simply but it takes a force of mind for the charm to work effectively.”

“Now, without wands first and repeat after me, _Riddikulus!_ ” The entire class put their wands in their robes’ pockets.

“ _Riddikulus!_ ”

“Excellent! But I’m afraid that is the easiest part. The charm doesn’t do all the work in repelling the boggart. What really makes it flee is the laughter that comes from making it look funny. Now I want you all to form a line--” The third-years scattered and pushed until they were indeed in a line but rather far from the wardrobe. “Quietly! And since you were first one to be able to answer in class today… Mr. Lorinaitis? Come up to the front, please..”

The young brunette jolted into a rigid posture at the call of his name, turning around slowly and approaching the front cautiously as the teacher requested.

Vlad approached the Gryffindor, bending down to look at the student straight in the eye. “Alright. What in the world frightens you hmm, Toris?”

The boy bit his lip, looking at anyone but at the professor but the piercing yellow gaze didn’t move in the slightest. “It’s… Professor Arlovskaya.”

Nearly everyone in the room laughed, save for a few others who shared the same sentiments. Alfred also thought she was plenty scary, getting goosebumps just from remembering the horrors of Potions class.

“Oh well then…” A smile graced Vlad’s lips. “She can be pretty scary. You’re a strong boy, think of something that would make the image of her amusing for us all, alright?”

The professor stood back up and faced the wardrobe. “When the boggart is released, it will turn into the form of Professor Arlovskaya as soon as it sees you, Toris. I want you to raise and flick your wand at it as you cry out _Riddikulus_ just as we practiced. Now, as soon as Toris here is successful, the boggart will shift its attention towards one of us. Take a moment to think about your fear and what will make it _ridiculous_ , so to say.”

Arthur never really thought about his own fear. He didn’t have a concrete one like Toris, who was scared of their potions professor. Isolation, darkness, immobility. His thoughts drifted to his recent dreams, the broken face of a doll identical to him. A shiver like electricity ran down his spine and Arthur looked around to see if anyone looked at him. Many students had their eyes shut, some mumbling under their breaths like Feliciano, Lovino’s twin, was. He heard the auburn brunette mutter something about spiders and roller blades. He breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his brow. No one seemed to have notice his inner turmoil.

“Is everyone ready?”

Arthur was tempted to run out of the room that moment. He wasn't terrified. It was just something he didn’t want to deal with right now. He already had to deal with it every other night. Even with the anxiety eating his stomach, he planted his feet to the floor to will himself to stay, watching everyone else nod their heads in apprehension.

“Alright, on the count of three, Toris,” Vlad raised his hand, the tip of his wand pointing towards the knob of the wardrobe. The young Gryffindor had his wand up as well. “One, two… Three, now!”

A jet of sparks was aimed at the knob of the wardrobe from Vlad’s wand, flicking the furniture open. The rattling of the wooden storage stopped immediately. Professor Arlovskaya, or at least a convincing impression of her, stepped out from the wardrobe, her cold eyes snapping at Toris in anger. There was a squeak that escaped the boy’s lips before he raised his wand.

“ _Ridikkulus!_ ” There was a noise like a leather whip striking bare skin. Something seized the female professor’s form, making her body rigid and still. the next thing they knew, she was dancing some kind of modern dance, snapping her body to a nonexistent beat.

Everyone in class roared in laughter, even Toris letting out a few giggles. The boggart’s form looked around in confusion before its eyes settling on the one next in line when Toris moved away. It was Feliciano.

Arthur instantly predicted the shape-shifting creature would turn into a spider, basing it from what he heard Feliciano mumbling a while ago. It shifted in mid-air before it turned into an acromantula and the Gryffindor looked horribly terrified but managed to execute the spell well, judging from the sudden wheels that appeared under the spider’s legs. The boggart stumbled and slipped about before the next student replaced Feliciano, changing form once more..

Some students had shallow fears like snakes, gigantic rodents, and even a floating test quill that had the lowest of scores. He wasn’t even remotely surprised that Alfred’s boggart was a bloody ghost, which he sent down a toilet using the charm. Some had more personal fears like Lovino’s boggart, which was a freshly killed corpse of his twin brother. The poor boy was actually frozen in place with tears almost running down his face before he repelled it with the charm and dispersing the horrid scene. It took a bit of comforting from Feliciano to Lovino before the activity continued with Arthur next in line.

The Slytherin stepped up to the boggart, his wand ready in his hand. For a moment, the creature eyed him suspiciously, as if having trouble in identifying his darkest fear. Arthur made sure not to think about his true fears, if it was possible to confuse the boggart into switching to something that wasn’t remotely scary for him. It didn’t take the boggart too long to start to shift, switching through its previous forms. Arthur raised his wand immediately to immobilize the creature as soon as it was changing its form.

When the creature took on its decided appearance , the blonde had taken in a harsh breath.

Arthur felt like he was looking at a mirror. He gaped openly at the form that the boggart took. It was an exact replica of himself, from the blonde hair, pale skin and black, green and silver uniform. Its green eyes that moment were quite different from his recurring nightmare. It was blank yet it took on sharp look, as if trying to cut into his soul and gouge out all his sanity.

“ _Open… Open the Chamber of Secrets._ ” Oh god, it knew exactly what his recurring dream was. Arthur could feel nasty bile rising up his throat but fortunately, he was able to keep it down. Though he prevented himself from vomiting all over the floor, the fear kept him in his place, his voice a useless instrument. There was no way he could perform the spell effectively. Time seemed to stop from the way everyone else only watched the scene unfold. No one tried to stop it. No one tried to help him. “ _Speak to me, Salazar Slytherin… Greatest of the Hogwarts four. Release your basilisk._ ”

Arthur lost all feeling in his body and he wondered how he was able to keep on standing, how he was still able to hold his wand towards the boggart. He was rendered completely useless and vulnerable. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but his line of vision processed the back of his professor that hid him from the boggart’s view. The creature seemed shifted quickly as its opponent had changed and it quickly turned into a long, scaly beast. It was no ordinary snake, it was a basilisk. Its ferocious teeth were in plain sight, hissing at the brunette.

“ _Riddikulus!_ ” The magical reptile started to knot itself animatedly into a ribbon before Vlad pushed it back into the wardrobe from where it resided. Arthur seemed to catch his breath as he fell to the ground, his legs feeling like jelly and his eyes refocusing to the situation at hand. He felt every single pair of eyes in the room stare at him. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to look at his classmates, to see their reactions to his rather unusual fear. It was Vlad who approached him, golden eyes settling on his emerald ones. He couldn’t read the swirl of emotions that plagued their professor’s eyes. It couldn’t be anything good.

Those yellow eyes only seemed to look him over before he turned to the rest of the class that were still reeling from what had just happened. “That was a great lesson for today, class. For homework, I want a paper about what you have all experienced from today’s practical lesson.”

Then he simply dismissed the class with a wave of his hand before seeming to hurry out of the room with his brisk pace.

No one really asked Arthur if he was alright. They were all too afraid of him. He heard all the whispers that talked about him, fading out quickly when everyone left the room. Only Alfred approached him on the floor, his hands immediately clutching him by his shoulders. The concerned sky blue eyes directed at him brought him back to reality.

“Are you okay?” Alfred had asked, squeezing his small shoulders. Arthur turned his head to the open door, watching their other classmates disappear down the hall as they walked further away.

“Yeah… I’m fine…” It was easy enough to lie, the Slytherin showing a faint but forced smile. Alfred seemed to be satisfied with only just that.

Alfred helped him up to his feet, his formerly jelly limbs toughening up a bit now that fear didn’t seize him. When they collected their things and bags, the two blondes were engulfed by silence. It was a surprise for him that the American didn’t say anything regarding his boggart as they walked out of the classroom. He was sure that he had so much questions about it, even though it was most likely that he couldn’t answer them. Even he didn’t know the meaning of his own dream. He couldn’t fathom as to why he was so scared of it.

Arthur was so consumed by his thoughts that he didn’t realize that the other boy had lead him to the Room of Requirement. Right, they still had their lessons. As soon as the door to the room appeared, they quickly slipped inside.

They talked to each other as if the Defense Against the Dark Arts class a while ago didn’t happen. Soon, the thoughts were hidden away to the back of his mind as Alfred talked about the potions they would have to do for the year. There wasn’t much to talk about since they had yet to have their first potions class for the year. Arthur shut his mouth when he realized he had to talk about their class a while ago since it was the only class Alfred had trouble with. Was this the reason why they went to the Room of Requirement immediately after class? So that Alfred could interrogate him without distractions? Seems likely.

Alfred’s mouth was already opening when Arthur beat him to speaking first. “No, I don’t know why that was my boggart.” The other’s mouth clamped down immediately. Alfred seemed to contemplate a bit, from the way his eyebrows furrowed uncharacteristically, before he spoke up once more.

“Dude, I didn’t know you were a parselmouth.”

_Huh?_

“Wait, what?” His green eyes easily reflected the confusion that he felt. What was a parseltongue even?

“Y’know! Like the one your boggart did? I’m guessing that you’re scared of yourself-”

“I am _not_!” Arthur had cut in but Alfred continued with his thought without faltering.

“But the boggart couldn’t have been a parselmouth on its own so I’m guessing it came from your own head.” The bespectacled blonde finished, pursing his lips.

Arthur stared back at the other, sighing softly and looked away. “Well… First things first, what is a parselmouth?”

Alfred gaped at him like he was the interestingly gross thing in the entire room. Arthur was tempted to punch the boy’s face to make him stop looking at him like that.

“Y’know, Parseltongue? You can speak to snakes?.” The Gryffindor said slowly, as if threading through shallow waters for his reaction. Why did he make it seem like it was so strange?

“So that’s what it’s called…” Arthur murmured to himself. He knew he could speak to snakes all of his life but he didn’t know that people had a name for people who could. “But so what? This is a magical school, I bet other students can do that as well.”

“Um, no they can’t, Arthur,” It was the first time that the other blonde called him that, it felt rather strange hearing it instead of the nickname he instigated upon him. “It’s not a very common gift. Ah, this is really bad...”

For a moment, Alfred looked afraid of him. The Slytherin’s heart started to beat quicker than normal, growing somewhat affected by the fear that was exposed. Not only that, what if Alfred heard what it said? What his dream was telling him was already suspicious all on its own. What is the Chamber of Secrets? What did he have to do with the so called Chamber of Secrets?

“What do you mean this is bad? Did you… Understand what the boggart was saying?” Arthur murmured, his eyes trained on Alfred’s face. He shook his head.

“No, couldn’t understand what t’was saying. All of it was in Parseltongue… Snake Language,” The boy shrugged. “Besides that… Being able to speak Parseltongue could mean that you’re…” Alfred didn’t seem like to continue talking, furrowing his eyebrows and looking at him with an intensity which made him squirm.

“Well? Spit it out!” Arthur’s voice shook a bit but he kept it firm.

Alfred bit the insides of his cheeks. “That you're related to Salazar Slytherin.”

Arthur felt like the air was becoming stiff. He suddenly felt like he couldn’t breath. Alfred didn’t realize his predicament and continued to talk.

“This is probably the reason why you’re in Slytherin… Salazar Slytherin was a _known_ parselmouth. And the trait is mostly hereditary. For all we know, you could be his great-great-great grandson or something.”

“I’m not-- I…” Arthur tried to explain himself but words seemed to get caught up in his throat, panic welling up for reasons he couldn’t explain. He couldn’t be too sure about his own bloodline anymore since he had no idea who his real parents were. Was this what the Sorting Hat had meant with what it said back in the Sorting Ceremony all those years ago? He had almost completely forgotten.

_Your own flesh and blood screams Slytherin!_

His vision started to blur and darken. The disappearing form of the boy before him started to look panicked before darkness overtook his mind and vision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mentioned before that I had a lot planned for Alfred and Arthur's 4th and 5th years-- I decided to make their 3rd year eventful as well. (--: So that means a lot of chapters will be dedicated to their 3rd year. Fair warning that all hell will break lose after their 3rd year ;-)  
> EDIT: I removed a plothole. I realized that it conflicted with everything I've written so far. /hahahahaha


	6. Chapter 6

Arthur woke up to the familiar sight of the green canopy of his bed over his head. He was laid down on top of his bed, his blanket tucked around him carefully. The next thing he noticed was the dull pain that made the back of his head ache, making the blonde groan in pain. What happened? How did he even end up here? The only thing he could remember before blacking out was talking to Alfred in the Room of Requirement and--

Wait.  _ Alfred _ . Where was he? Was he the one who brought him here? No, he couldn’t be. He couldn’t even go inside the Slytherin dormitory on his own. Wanting to go to Alfred for the answers to his questions, Arthur sat up in a haste in an attempt to leave, vertigo instantly making his vision blur out a bit. He cradled his head in an attempt to stabilize himself, gritting his teeth to bear the pain. What did he do to get this massive headache?

“Woah there, Art. Relax.” The young Slytherin swiveled his head to the source of the voice, another shot of pain stabbing his head from the sudden movement. His eyes were able to slowly make out the form of his brother, Gilbert, sitting on one of the wooden chairs that he was sure was supposed to be in the Commons. He must have brought one inside the dormitories themselves. He couldn’t help but glare at the white-haired male, eliciting a boisterous laugh from the seventh-year that made his ears hurt from hearing it.

“Geez, you’re such a stuck-up. I’m gonna put this back out once I’m done using it.” Gilbert stood up and spun the chair around. He straddled the back rest of the chair when he sat back down, his arm and elbow resting on top of it to cradle his head in one hand.

Gilbert took on a serious expression after a while, a sight that Arthur had the privilege of seeing only a few times since they became brothers. It felt almost troubling.

“You and I need to talk.”

To see that kind of face on the older, it actually made the blonde sort of nervous. He felt the sweat seeping out from his palms, discreetly wiping it on his blanket when the albino seemed to lean closer towards his direction. “I’m going to be very straight with you about this…”

The younger felt himself swallow nervously as he waited for the other to continue. It felt like he was waiting for the inevitable. It was nerve-wracking. “You’ve been seeing Al in secret after classes, haven’t you?”

Arthur felt a nerve on his forehead twitch annoyingly. “God, you sound like a father scolding his only daughter from seeing her boyfriend.”

It was the first thing that slipped out from Arthur’s mouth when he heard Gilbert’s accusation and it made him cringe inwardly. What the heck did he just say? Why did he use that comparison of all things?! Gilbert sprang from his chair, an almost murderous expression on his face. The chair toppled over and it fell to the ground with a resounding clatter as the older pointed an accusing finger at him.

“So you and Alfred  _ have  _ been dating! I’m going to punch that little rascal for deflowering my little brother!” Gilbert yelled in a volume too loud at this time in the morning.

“ _ What?! _ No! You got it all wrong, you prat! I was just comparing you to an enraged father.” Arthur ended up pinching the skin between his eyes to lessen the pain that pounded in his head. He needed to go to the nurse’s ward after this ridiculous talk. “Ugh… What time is it?”

Gilbert only frowned at his question before shrugging. “I’unno. An hour before breakfast, I guess? Lovino’s out for a morning walk so it’s really just you and me here.”

That explains the lack of sunlight permeating the water behind his window. What surprised Arthur even more was how early his brother was up today. Had he been waiting for him to wake up? A part of the blonde thought that was creepy because he could have just been watching him sleep but a part of him felt  _ touched _ ? Maybe he just made sure he woke up alright after that escapade from last night. Speaking of last night…

“Do you mind telling me how I got here?” Arthur asked, his eyes searching for answers on the other’s furious ruby eyes.

Gilbert seemed reluctant to answer the question but relented with a harsh huff. “Al carried you to your bed when you were unconscious. That kid was really freaking out, y’know.” 

Emerald green eyes squinted suspiciously. Carried him to his bed? The thought made his cheeks flush but he knew what the other really meant by that. “How did he get in then?”

“ _ I _ let him in. I was out on prefect duties when I caught him walking back and forth in front of our commons while he carried you on his back.” Ah. It all made sense to him now. No wonder Gilbert was right at his throat this very moment. He was sure that his brother wanted an explanation for last night. He wanted answers. Or maybe he already had his suspicions from the beginning and encountering whatever happened last night was the trigger for the seventh-year to stop putting up a blind eye on them.

Arthur sighed in exasperation. No use lying then. “It’s not what it looked like.” Of course, make it sound even more dubious than it seemed. He mentally smacked himself for his misuse of words.

“It better not be. You’re fourteen, for Christ’s sake! Too young to be screwing around, or worse, getting screwed yourself!” The younger’s cheeks only grew hotter at the implication. Leave it to Gilbert to make things as dirty as possible.

“Stop talking so crudely! God, I am not putting myself so low as to sleep with anyone at this age, much less with Jones!” Arthur hissed lowly, gritting his teeth together to prevent himself from full-out yelling. There were people who were still sleeping at this hour, after all.

“He didn’t even tell you why we were even together at that hour. Ugh… We were not doing anything that you thought we were doing.” The younger could feel another bout of headache overtake him.

Gilbert seemed to notice his predicament and made a move to hand him the jug of water that was always prepared by the windowsill. For some strange reason, the older one seemed patient to let him drink and wait out his splitting migraine. Just a second ago, he was demanding for answers.

Arthur ended up explaining everything after his headache subsided. He started from how screwed up he was in Potions class if he hadn’t ask for Alfred’s help and vice versa except the bespectacled blonde had troubles with Defense Against the Dark Arts. He didn't mention that it was entirely their Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor’s idea that they have an arrangement like that. As he expected, Gilbert ended up laughing at him.

“Why didn’t you say you were so bad with potions? Big brother here could’ve helped ya!” Gilbert clapped the blonde on the back, enough for him to jolt at the impact. Harsh emerald orbs narrowed on the equally piercing red eyes.

“Because you’re a terrible teacher when it comes to complicated subjects like Potions.” Arthur said bluntly. The older just snickered because well, it was true. Not that Gilbert is a terrible student, he had to have some credit for being a prefect, but he just sucked at sharing his knowledge to other people.

Arthur continued with his explanation. “Alfred just so happens to be the top of our class. Of course he would be the one that I would ask.”

“Last I knew, you hated the guy. What’s up with this sudden change of heart?” There was a tone of teasing in the older’s voice and Arthur wanted to slap the smirk right off Gilbert’s face.

The blonde’s mouth opened to retort but he quickly clamped it shut. He couldn't tell his brother about the secret lessons with Vlad and the teacher’s request to tutor Alfred. It’s called a secret for a reason. It was hard enough to sneak around under their father’s nose about it. What if he ended up blabbing it out?

Arthur noticed the teasing expression furrow into a confused one.

“Wait, wait, wait a minute.” Arthur felt his throat tighten in nervousness when Gilbert looked at him intently. “... Since when did you call him  _ Alfred _ ?”

The blonde let out a small sigh of relief at the change of topic but even this wasn’t any better. Arthur’s mouth opened and closed like a fish would, unable to say anything that wasn’t going to be taken out of context. His face had even reddened up considerably in embarrassment.

“That’s his name! What am I supposed to call him?!”

“Uh, like you always did? By his last name.” Gilbert had taken back his seat when he pulled up the chair that lay on the ground when he had toppled it over a while ago. He crossed his arms, continuing to stare at Arthur who did all that he could to avoid his gaze. The older seemed to take a worried expression and he didn't like seeing see that.

‘What’s up with you?”

Even he didn’t know what was happening to him. First, it was the Mirror of Erised that bothered him. The dreams followed right after and then the boggart from yesterday. None of it made sense, but he was sure those were connected to each other somehow. Arthur felt his head start to ache again. But besides those things taking up his mind, Alfred still managed to occupy a large portion of his thoughts.

He was thinking of so many things and it messed his head up. Alfred only served to mess his entire being up.

“I don’t know… I’m thinking about plenty of things, alright?” Arthur murmured quietly, clutching his head to massage his temples. Thinking too much really made his head hurt. The way the bright red eyes bore into him so intently unnerved the young blonde.

“And one of those things you’re thinking about is Alfred, isn't it?” Arthur should have denied it the moment the statement left his brother’s lips but the words were caught in his throat. His lips felt dry all off a sudden that when he bit on his lower lip, beads of tangy taste sprung forth. Gilbert only sighed, shaking his head almost frantically.

“Can’t believe you're fretting over something that’s not to be ashamed of! You’re head over heels! In love! Hit by cupid’s arrow or something! Don’t even think about denying it anymore.” Gilbert stood up from his seat, gripping on the chair’s backrest to carry it over his shoulder. Arthur wanted to deny the statement so badly but he couldn’t for some reason

The albino’s usual grin finally showed up on his face.

“I’m not good at giving relationship advice since even the Awesome Me is having love problems, but here’s what I’ll tell ya. In my point of view, you and Al look at each other the same way, the two of you are just so goddamn stupid to see it.”

Even that was able to make Arthur smile just a little bit. This was his brother’s way of comforting him but he didn't want to cling to the false hope he was giving him. “Thank you, I guess.”

“Whatever, Art. But if I hear that he hurt you in any way at all, I will pummel him so hard that I’ll displace his entire face,  _ kesesese _ !” Gilbert laughed loudly as if it was one of his jokes but Arthur knew he really meant to keep that. The threat made him sweat a bit. He watched his brother leave the dorm room, closing the door behind him.

There was silence that overtook the room now that his brother was out. Arthur flopped back down to the soft embrace of his bed, eyes searching for nothing on the folds and curves of the green canopy hovering his bed.

Arthur was only able to tell Gilbert of the matters his heart took, at least it was Gilbert who figured out himself. He wasn't able to mention what he and Alfred had talked about last night, why he even fell unconscious in the first place. The assumption which meant he could be related to Salazar Slytherin.

First, he needed to form a resolve. Did he want to know about his family? His  _ real _ family? A part of him could barely care since he didn’t know anything about them. None of them were with him his entire life, nor was there anything left for him when they left him in a blasted orphanage. But a part of him thirsted for the knowledge and verification.

What was clear to him now was that his ability to speak to snakes was his only inheritance from them, since Alfred had mentioned it was only passed down by blood. He didn’t fully believe that he had the blood of Slytherin running in his veins but there were too much instances that proved the assumption to be true. There were just too many times that he was associated with snakes. Association with snakes meant having keenness to the Dark Arts, at least as far as magical stereotypes go just because Salazar Slytherin associated with snakes.

Arthur decided that he needed to talk to Vlad about this. Anything about the Dark Arts and the Slytherin house, Vlad was bound to know extensively. More importantly, did he know that he could talk to snakes from the very beginning? Was this why he offered one-on-one lessons? Those lessons were not even about just defense anymore, it lingered towards the Dark Arts themselves. But before questioning his professor, he needed to do some research on his own. He needed to verify this himself.

He needed to get his birth records from the orphanage he lived in. His parents’ names had to be there, right? He was sure the answers lied in his heritage and that blasted orphanage.

Details aside, he needed to apologize to Alfred for now. Maybe, he should thank him as well. It’s not like carrying him to his bed while he was unconscious was something Alfred was obligated to do.

* * *

 

As it turned out, Arthur only found the time to approach Alfred when it was Gryffindor’s Quidditch tryouts after that day’s classes. The tryouts were early that year, starting on the first week of school instead of the week after. It was announced last year before the term ended but he couldn’t help but feel sorry for those who still lagged behind because of having just returned from vacation. 

Arthur felt every single pair of eyes on him when he made his way to the stands. Usually, it was just people of the same house who were present during the tryouts but someone who isn't part of the house, especially a Slytherin like him in Gryffindor tryouts, was beyond normalcy. He was sure most of them assumed he was spying for the Slytherin team. That was only half of the reasons for the attention. He was sure they stared at him like he was a freak of nature, but he didn’t bother to clarify anymore. Just the thought of it made his throat dry and chest tight.

He was certain that the news of his boggart had already spread around the school like wildfire. Just like what Alfred had told him, it was odd for anyone to speak snake language. He knows that it’s a skill of those inclined to the Dark Arts but until yesterday, he was sure that it was normal. He tried to ignore the hushed whispers that he was sure he was the topic of and focused his attention to the field.

Arthur was far enough that he couldn't hear the Gryffindor captain, Mathias Kohler from what he remembered, yelling at the red-clad players. He saw Alfred standing beside the energetic captain, beaming with the pride of a Gryffindor chaser. He took note that despite the bespectacled blonde’s astounding skill in Quidditch, he was arrogant and had much pride in himself. The attitude suit him well. He was still his self-proclaimed rival after all.

Gryffindor had unfavorable picks this year. None of the newbies seemed up to par with the current team. The students were lined up as follows: Chasers, Beaters and then aspiring Seekers. The Chasers and Beaters choices didn’t seem particularly skilled besides the current ones in position. He didn’t pay attention to them, he made sure to focus on the Seeker candidates to check his competition. The Gryffindor Seeker from last year was a seventh-year so the team was desperate for a new one.

He noticed that there was only one student which stood a few steps away from the rambunctious crowd of students. Arthur hasn’t seen this student around the Gryffindor’s Quidditch team last year either. A second-year, perhaps?

Unlike the other students that seemed to tower over because of an overwhelming growth of height, this boy had a short stature and what seemed to be a slim body build, judging from the way the Quidditch robes practically swallowed his lithe form. He couldn't see how the boy looked like since he faced away from the stands but from the back, Arthur could swear that anyone could mistake this boy for him from the back. If he was in Gryffindor that is.

“Hey!” Arthur jolted from his concentrated gaze on the Gryffindor seeker candidate when he felt hands on his shoulders. Twisting his head a bit, he was met with the sight of yellow house colors.

“T-Tonio?  _ Matthew _ ?” The blonde stuttered out in confusion. “Wait, why are you guys here? This is Gryffindor’s tryouts.”

The Hufflepuff pair took the two empty seats at each of Arthur’s sides. Antonio wrapped an arm around the Slytherin’s shoulder and only smiled at him. There was a knowing expression on the older’s face, one that Arthur was cautious of seeing.

“Could say the same thing to you. What’re  _ you _ doing at Gryffindor’s tryouts hm?” The Spaniard chimed in teasingly, as if implying something. Arthur only flushed faintly.

“I just wanted to talk to Jones. Is there a problem with that?”

The brunette’s smile grew even wider and he couldn’t help but chuckle cheerfully. “No need for excuses,  _ amigo _ ! Gilbert told Francis and I a-a-all about your problem! No need to be ashamed of it!”

Arthur only gawked at the older male. That…  _ git _ of a brother!

“Problem? What’s wrong, Arthur?” Matthew’s soft voice cut in, pursing his lips together in anticipation. Before Arthur could even say anything in reply, it was the older Hufflepuff who answered the hanging question.

“Arthur here is in love with--” Antonio started but Arthur immediately clasped a hand over his mouth. The Slytherin’s face was flush from embarrassment but more so, mortification.

“I don’t need anymore rumors going around, it’s already bad enough as it is.” Anyone would get a kick out of knowing that Arthur Beilschmidt, the infamous Slytherin rival freak, has a crush on the school's golden Gryffindor boy Alfred F. Jones.

Antonio instantly realized the implication and scratched the back of his neck. “Ah… I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…”

“It’s fine.” Arthur shook his head and went back to the students on the pitch. It seems like it has already started, from the looks of the Chaser candidates mounting their broom.

Despite the lack of build, Feliciano fared well with the other students. He was like an invisible force that stole the Quaffle from the others quicker than his mind could catch up. That Quaffle ended up being passed to Alfred, who had the ferocity to break through and the arm strength to instantly send it towards the goal post. Arthur never really focused on Alfred’s movements when he was playing, only thinking of what he might do during a game. He didn’t realize how calculated and precise his movements were, it was almost swift and graceful.

It ended as soon as it started. The older years barely kept up with the third-year chasers. That instantly sealed the gap of skills. The Beater tryouts were more promising than the Chasers but the Seeker…

Even though there was only one trying out, Mathias still wanted to see what this blonde second-year could do and if he could match up to their former seeker.

“Hey Arthur?” It was Matthew. The Slytherin had barely heard him over the sudden roar of Gryffindors by the stands. “Do you know who that is?”

The younger Hufflepuff’s question was quickly answered not by Arthur, but the Gryffindors in the stands who started chanting ‘Kirkland, Kirkland, Kirkland!’.

Wait,  _ Kirkland _ ?

Apparently the Golden Snitch had been released for the second-year Gryffindor to catch under a pressuring time limit. Arthur only realized when he heard the gentle fluttering of the snitch near the stand, having zoomed past where they were sitting. At this point, the Seeker candidate had followed the trail of the Snitch, giving the students watching from the stands a good look on his face before he swooped down at a dangerous degree to catch it.

Arthur saw that the boy not could be mistaken for him from the back but they had disturbingly similar facial features as well. The only way anyone could tell them apart would be the sapphire blue eyes the Gryffindor had.

He needed air.

Arthur quickly stood up from his seat to leave the stands, despite the protests from Antonio and Matthew. He didn’t give a response when they asked where he was going or what he was going to do. He walked back to the castle grounds, going down the walkway towards the fountain courtyard.

He didn’t notice the group of Gryffindors who had followed him all the way from the Quidditch Pitch.

“ _ Flippendo! _ ” Arthur heard it too late, whipping his head to the source of the caster’s voice before being knocked down, face first, to the ground. From the stinging pain that accompanied his face when he lifted his face, the blonde was sure he incurred some scratches from his face being pushed towards the rough, concrete floor.

“I didn't think you had the balls to show up to a Gryffindor-exclusive tryouts, Beilschmidt!” A series of chortles and laughter followed the bold statement. If Arthur remembered right, the group were of his year level, most likely classmates of his.

Ah, he remembered now.

“... John.” Arthur hissed out with a bitter smile, shakily pulling himself back up to his feet. The knockback jinx had thrown him off quite spectacularly. The group (he counted that there were just three of them) only sneered at him. “As far as I know, there’s no rule that prevents people from other houses from watching the tryouts.”

The boy he called John only shrugged nonchalantly, as if he didn’t care about what the blonde had to say. Not that it wasn’t true, no one could give squat about what Arthur had to say. “Oh this rule only applies to you, freak. Don’t cha get it? No one wants you around.”

“Oh, I see… You’re here to tell me off,” The sarcasm practically poured out from Arthur’s tone. “You couldn’t tell me off without your crowd of cohorts behind you? Were you afraid?” He pressed on, even though he knew this was a battle already lost. There was no way he could fight them all off on his own if they decided to take this into a duel. It was three on one, after all.

John frowned deeply, clearly being pulled in by his jab. The wand that was used to knock him down was raised and was pointed at him. “You really don’t know when to shut your trap, huh? If you get on your knees and say sorry, maybe I’ll reconsider blasting your sorry ass off.”

Arthur reached into the sleeve of his robes, preparing his wand. He was sure that this was going to turn into a magic duel. “I’d rather hang myself.”

His response was met with a snarl and a jinx was sent his way.

* * *

 

 

Tryouts were a disaster besides the recruitment of the new seeker. Matthias was already scratching his head over the strategies and amount of training they had to do before their team was in tiptop shape for the first match of the school year. It was going to be against Hufflepuff at the end of September, one they didn't seem to take seriously. They just needed to beat Slytherin, who had taken the house cup last year, and they were satisfied.

Alfred just wanted to take a shower and go to the Room of Requirement to meet Arthur. He slipped past the radar of their captain to escape to the Gryffindor tower and sprinted off when he had the chance. When he was already by the fountain courtyard did he notice the small amount of debris ways off the concrete walkway. He would have left it be if he didn't see three of his housemates run off to a different hall, seeming to be chasing something down the hallway.

Curiosity got the better of him and he stealthily followed the trail the Gryffindor trio left. What made adrenaline pump in his veins were the wands he saw held on each students’ hands when they rounded a corner. Were they fighting something?

And the sight of the familiar wand that was left in the middle of the hallway met his gaze and his blood ran cold. Alfred was sure it was Arthur’s wand. Everything simply clicked together.

“Shit, shit,  _ shit _ !” The bespectacled blonde furiously mumbled to himself as he quickly picked up the wand and ran off to the direction where he saw the group ran off to. This was bad. If his hunch was right, those boys had ambushed Arthur and effectively disarmed him. Who knows what they’d do to him now that the Slytherin didn’t have his wand.

* * *

 

 

Why didn’t he see the disarming spell coming? Arthur was mentally beating himself over his stupid mistake as he ran down the path where the trio were chasing him into. The first thing they had done was cast a perfectly executed disarming spell and ran after him before he could get back his wand from where it had landed. His legs were starting to kill him from the sudden exertion, turning swiftly into a corner in an attempt to lose the sight the trio set on him.

Arthur instantly ran into a dead end.

His sprint slowed down into a jog and down to a stop and turned around to face his assailants. They were sneering down at him, like a pack of wolves cornering a lamb. He gritted his teeth and cursed quietly to himself. He felt stupid for getting into this entire mess from the beginning.

“Well, well, too bad, Beilschmidt! I got you now…” The wand was raised towards him and he couldn’t do anything about it, not without his own wand.

“ _ Confringo _ !”

“ _ Expelliarmus _ !”

It all happened at the same time. The exact moment Arthur saw the wand fly off his attacker’s hand by a disarming spell casted by an unknown addition to the mess, his eyes caught the blasting curse that was directed towards him. He raised his arms up to his face in reflex, a futile attempt to protect himself, not noticing what seemed to be a thin blue sheet covering him when he raised his arm.

The translucent sheet caught the spell, the flame ricocheting to the ground, and suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. It caused a massive explosion that sent him and the trio stumbling back from the impact. The force pushed him back far enough for his back to connect harshly against the wall behind him, eliciting a pained gasp before he fell back down to the ground, his back gliding against the concrete wall.

The other three recovered faster than Arthur did (who had taken the brunt of the explosion), quickly scrambling away from the Slytherin with fear clearly evident in their eyes. Even Arthur couldn’t comprehend what he just did. It looked like a shield charm casted wandlessly. It seemed impossible because he had no idea how to cast spells without a wand yet.

“What the  _ fuck _ was that?!”

“Who the  _ hell _ casts a shield charm that strong without a wand?!”

“You really are a freak! Let’s get out of here!” As quickly as they ambushed the blonde, they ran off just as fast in the opposite direction. They pushed away the unknown figure that Arthur wasn’t able to recognize quickly because of his attention being stolen away from the previous blasting curse.

Arthur heard fast-paced footsteps approaching him. When he lifted his head, he easily recognized the person hovering over him. He couldn't help but let his lips curl into tiny smirk at the uncharacteristic expression Alfred had on his face.

“Artie, w-what the hell?” The Gryffindor started slowly, furrowing his eyebrows in worry as blue eyes scanned Arthur’s state of being. Other than the scratches on his face and what may be a bruised back from being thrown off to the wall, there was nothing else significant to be worried about in his physique.

Arthur shrugged as he held out a hand towards the other blonde for him to take. “Help me up and I’ll explain what I can. And give me my wand back, I know you saw it when you were putting your nose in this fight.”

Alfred only frowned more but relented quietly, grabbing the other’s hand to pull him up to his feet. The Slytherin winced a bit at the pain that shot up his spine when he stood up, quickly brushing aside the other blonde’s worried inquiries.

Once Alfred has handed him his wand back, Arthur slid it back under his sleeve and cleared out his throat. “They followed me when I was walking back to the castle from the Quidditch pitch, called me a freak and all. I’m positive that they intended to fight it out from the very beginning.”

Arthur grew silent after that, finding the right words to add. There was nothing that he could say about what he did at the end, conjuring a shield charm  _ without _ a wand was something he didn't mean to do but glad he did because he could have been seriously injured or even  _ died  _ if he didn’t.

“Well, whatever, it already happened.” Alfred scoffed a bit, reminding Arthur of a parent trying to scold their child. Arthur noticed that Alfred said nothing to rebuke what he said about him being a freak. He felt his heart drop a bit but immediately shook away the feeling.

Arthur felt his heart beat rapidly when he felt large hands holding his face, Alfred’s face coming close to his own to inspect his wounds. When did he ever see those brilliant blue eyes up this close? “Besides, your face is all scratched up. I’ll bring you to the nurse’s ward, alright?”

There was nothing Arthur could say in response and merely nodded in compliance as Alfred took him by the arm to pull him into the direction of the hospital wing.

It was a long walk to the nurse’s ward spent in tense silence. It was already nearing evening so not a lot of people were found in the hallway, most likely resting in their own dorms before supper or chilling in their house’s respective common rooms. It was only the two of them in the hall from where they met up, up until the hallway to the nurse’s ward.

It was Alfred who broke the silence between them. “Why were you in the Quidditch Pitch?”

The shorter one grew pink at the question, the other left oblivious and only tilted his head. “I uh… I was looking at your new Seeker. He seems good.” It was partly true. But really, his main motive of checking the tryouts was talking to Alfred after but that purpose became convoluted.

“Oh.” Alfred said in response, a bit lost for a moment before thinking of what to reply with. “Ah well… He’s really good! You better watch out, he’s probably better than you!”

“As if, I’ll make sure Slytherin is the champion again this year.” The two of them laughed, the tension between them quickly dissolving. It was easier to be around Alfred like this, if both of them didn’t think too much.

Arthur turned towards the door to the nurse’s ward. “Well… I’ll see you later at the usual place then?”

The bespectacled blonde just grinned. “You bet. Don’t keep me waiting!”

* * *

 

Arthur had come to their usual meeting place that night with a few bandages stuck all over his face. The nurse had concluded that the scratches on his face weren’t all that serious and only needed a few days to heal on its own. Alfred couldn’t help but to laugh at him, specifically the bandage that sat across his nose, earning the bespectacled blonde a smack on the head for laughing. 

Initially, they've spent a set amount of hours in the Room of Requirement just for the lessons because the two of them couldn’t stand each other to be around too long. As of this year however, the time spent together in this room have only been steadily increasing. Instead of just studying, they talked to each other as if nothing happened in their past. The thought of being friends made Arthur’s heart warm.

Although, that night was a time for their lessons. The Gryffindor was found only groaning over his textbook, lying down on one of the conjured couches in the Room of Requirement while the Slytherin sat on one of the cushioned armchairs, flipping through the pages of his own copy.

“So what's the difference between a Metamorphmagus and an Animagus?”

Alfred scratched his head and looked back to his book that was filled with notes that Arthur had written for him to review. Not only did he have troubles with Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Transfiguration was starting to become confusing for Alfred that year. At least on the theoretical part. Performing spells was no problem with him at all.

“Um… A Metamorphmagus is forced to transform while an Animagus can transform to their preferred animal at will?” The Gryffindor guessed, earning a sigh and a shake of Arthur’s head. The emerald-eyed boy reached out to take the book from Alfred’s hands and flipped it to a certain page, showing a picture of a humanoid figure with canine features, various notes and doodles littering the border of the picture. Alfred could only grimace at how terribly good Arthur was at every subject- except for Potions.

“A Metamorphmagus is a person born with the ability to change their appearance at will, though that doesn’t extend to other races or animals. An Animagus, on the other hand, is a wizard who learned the ability to morph into a specific creature. They say your Animagus form will take on the form of your full-bodied patronus like all the registered Animagi’s forms did, but there is no concrete proof that it applies for everyone.”

“What you mentioned a while ago, a transfiguration that cannot be controlled is someone like this,” Arthur pointed to the picture of the creature in Alfred’s book. “This is a human infected with Lycanthropy. A werewolf, in other words. These kind of people can’t control their transformation once the full moon is in the sky.”

Alfred only frowned at the dehumanizing image on his book and sat up on the couch, shifting his attention back to Arthur. “Say Artie…”

“Arthur.” The blonde corrected bluntly without batting an eyelash before lifting his forest green gaze towards the other. They stared at each other for a while, a comfortable silence enveloping them for a moment before Alfred looked away with a shy smile gracing his lips. Arthur always cherished the rare sights of that kind of smile on the taller boy.

“Don’t you think being Animagi would be so cool? Like you and me transfiguring into animals?” Arthur could only raise an eyebrow, not really getting where Alfred was going with what he was saying. Being an animagus wasn’t really something he gave thought to and he was surprised Alfred did. Well not really, the first time it was mentioned it class, the boy practically beamed at the possibility.

Arthur only shrugged. “I never really thought about it..” Because it seemed like a waste of time, but that thought he would keep to himself.

“I want to learn to be one, Art. I’ve set on it!” The ocean-eyed boy grinned broadly, earning a mortified look from Arthur.

“You do know that the process of learning to become one is very tedious, right? It takes a long time,  _ years _ , to completely master the skill and any problems during training could be dangerous. There’s a reason why there’s so few Animagi in the world.” Arthur didn’t mean to sound so discouraging of Alfred’s decision but learning how to become an Animagus was more trouble than it’s worth if you weren’t magically gifted. He didn’t look down on Alfred’s worth but even he could see that the risks overweigh the gain if Alfred didn’t have a proper teacher.

“You’ll see, Art. I’m sure I can ask Professor Romulos to teach me! He’s already an amazing teacher, I’m sure he would be a perfect mentor for this.” Arthur hoped he is capable enough to handle an absurd request like this from the Gryffindor. He knows he is a talented wizard, he just didn’t want Alfred to screw up training one way or another that would harm himself.

Arthur sighed. “Alright… Be sure to show me what you morph into, I have to be the first one to know after Professor Romulos!” He let a smile take his lips when he saw Alfred’s own grow bigger if that was even possible at this point.

* * *

 

A week or so went past in a breeze, events coming one after the other and it almost made Arthur lose track. As it turned out, Romulos was ecstatic when he learned of Alfred’s want of becoming an Animagus, a request that was a first for the Transfiguration professor in all his years of teaching in Hogwarts. It was imperative for the blonde to start as early as possible since the professor concluded that it was easier to start young to fully maximize the his  capabilities by finishing early. 

Due to Alfred’s added lessons, Arthur decided to join the Animagus sessions as it happened after classes so that he and Alfred could go to the Room of Requirement after dinner together. It was amusing watching Alfred struggle with a mandrake leaf in his mouth for the initial training but just like what he said before, Animagus training is unorthodox and difficult. Alfred had wanted this or himself.

What happened next during the month were the other houses’ tryouts. Arthur didn’t feel as obligated to go to the rest of the tryouts as he had with Gryffindor’s so he merely opted to defend his position as Seeker when the day came for Slytherin tryouts. There were no students who surpassed any of the current members, so Gilbert simply decided to keep the team as it is. That meant it was easier to choose a co-captain since Gilbert, a seventh-year, was graduating at the end of the year.

There were no protests when the albino had chosen Arthur to be the Quidditch captain for next year and onwards. He was even congratulated by Alistair, Collins, and Dylan, a smack to his back and a ruffle of his hair accompanying the congratulatory remarks.

Quidditch practice and the increasing amount of school work had taken most of their free time and Arthur only realized how much time had passed when he noticed it was already a friday and there was only a week left before the first match of the school, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, on the first week of October.

The Room of Requirement served as a solace, where Arthur and Alfred could do their homework and study in peace. What lifted the atmosphere more was the playful jabs they threw at each other in between studying. They could complain to each other (Alfred did most of the complaining) about their school work and it kept the light atmosphere between them.

That night session in the room turned quite odd for Arthur when Alfred suddenly asked, “What’re you doing this weekend?”

Yeah, it was a rather strange question for Arthur, who raised an eyebrow at the inquiry. Alfred never asked about his plans. “I will be reading the books I bookmarked in the library and doing my homework like on any other weekend. Why?”

“Wait. You haven’t gone on a Hogsmeade trip?”

Arthur realized he had completely forgotten about Hogsmeade weekend. Third years were already permitted to make weekend trips to the joyous village that was the Hogsmeade village that sat at a fair distance away from the school. As long as you have your parents’ consent letter signed, that is. He never really thought about it since he was too preoccupied with school activities.

“No. I don’t plan on going anytime soon either.” Emerald green eyes turned back to what he was writing, an essay for Transfiguration class that asked about the effects of vampire and werewolf bites that didn’t kill its prey. Why this was being taught in Transfiguration, he didn’t know. This should be a lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“But you  _ have _ to go!” Alfred whined and Arthur found the pitched tone to be quite annoying. “All you’ve been doing is study, study, and study! You need to let some fun into your life.”

Arthur lifted his gaze once again, only this time, to glare lightly at the blonde across him. “I don’t really see the point wandering around on my own when I could be productive with my time.”

The Gryffindor huffed, puffing his cheeks in offense. “I didn’t say you would be going alone! I’m  _ trying _ to ask you out and you’re making this harder than I thought.”

For a moment, it seemed like the world stopped revolving and Arthur seemed to stare at Alfred with eyes filled with shock. There was a silence that followed that seemed to knock some senses into the Gryffindor, whose face flushed with embarrassment and waved his hands swiftly in front of him.

“Wait, wait, wait, I didn’t mean  _ that _ kind of asking out! I meant as friends! Y’know, friends hanging out!” Alfred stumbled over his explanation and the breath Arthur didn’t realize he was holding was released. He wasn’t sure whether he was glad the other boy took back what he said or not.

What did he have to lose, anyway?

“But I understand if you don’t wanna, what I said was really weird and--”

“Alright.”

Alfred immediately stopped with his rambling and focused his blue eyes on Arthur, obviously surprised that he had considered the offer. The Slytherin never got tired seeing those eyes and the sight was only better when those sapphire blues twinkled in delight.

“Awesome! Tomorrow lunch then?”

“Yes, tomorrow lunch.” Arthur smiled to himself as Alfred returned to his work with a giddy expression on his face. The topic died down, the bespectacled blonde having moved on to recollecting what happened that day to him, ending the night with contended laughter and smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad Arthur and Alfred are getting closer /wipes away tears/. New character will be introduced next chap! I think it's obvious who it is, judging from the description he had in this chapter. /laughs/
> 
> I think I'm going to take a break from the weekly updates to fix the story a bit since I'm still torn with the final flow of the story at this point--
> 
> In other news, I'm going to start another multi-chaptered fic! Still UsUk, except it's going to be modern human!AU. It'll be shorter than "Heir of Slytherin" and it will be titled "Wrong Side of Justice" so please do look forward to it!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters' ages with their respective year level to lessen confusion! I wrote the story with these ages in my mind so I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense in HP canon, hahaha-
> 
>  
> 
> 2nd year: Matthew (14) and Peter (12)
> 
> 3rd year: Alfred (14), Arthur (14), Toris (14), Feliciano (13) and Lovino (13)
> 
> 5th year: Ludwig (15)
> 
> 6th year: Alistair (17), Collins (17) and Dylan (17)
> 
> 7th year: Francis (17), Antonio (17) and Gilbert (17) (Graduation approaching!)
> 
> And I'm very sorry this chapter is delayed and not proofread!  
> The other fic I'm working on is also delayed huhuhu--  
> From weekly update, this will be a monthly update every last sunday of the month so please bear with me and the story!

Another weekend of the year fell upon Hogwarts once more. It meant students were free to schedule their own activities for the day and socialize or simply waste their time away procrastinating or sleeping since there were no classes. Everyone looked forward to the end of every week, especially the students, since the only thing that was scheduled on weekends were the Hogsmeade weekend trips.

Hogsmeade was a quaint village that one could compare to those little towns you see in Christmas cards and snow globes. It was located outside of the school’s premises, where students were dropped off at the start of the school year on their way to Hogwarts. Only third-years and older were allowed on the trips, much to the younger students’ dismay. It was a refreshing sight to see since students stayed within the castle walls all throughout the year except if they're going home for holidays.

Walking out of the dormitories and scanning the bustling crowd, Arthur noticed that students were fussing around too much in a Saturday morning. It was at least past breakfast time, a rare fit for the boy since it was routine for him to wake up early in the morning, hours before breakfast time.

The only reason why he would wake up early on the weekends was to be able to borrow books from the Library ahead of any student, just to lock himself up in the Room of Requirement to read and study the entire day, and only coming out for meals and for sleep. It was only during the weekend that he had the Room of Requirement to himself. Alfred, of course, had better things to attend to than to stay with him, he would think bitterly.

However, that weekend was fairly different from his usual routine. Arthur wasn’t going to admit that he was looking forward to what Alfred promised him, he was simply relishing the change of pace. He hasn’t been to Hogsmeade on his own time so an experience like this was sure to stimulate his mind. It wasn’t because Alfred invited him out, not at all.

He had, at least, three hours to burn before having lunch in the Great Hall and meeting with the blonde Gryffindor soon after.

He decided to go to the library for a quick skim. He definitely had a lot of things in his mind but he hasn't forgotten about his family concerns. There was not a single day that the memory of his boggart didn’t pass through his head. Arthur hasn't gotten the chance to speak to Professor Vlad about his concerns about it, as to why his boggart was like that.

The boy wasn't sure if it was only his imagination but it almost seemed like he was being avoided by the teacher. He wasn’t surprised if Vlad got caught up in the rumors surrounding him but it did make his heart drop the slightest bit.

When he opened the oaken doors, he noticed that the library was almost devoid of people, except for the consistent presence of the Hogwarts librarian, Miss Cannon, who sat as she always did behind her desk. Arthur was a regular visitor to the place which meant the librarian didn’t pay heed to him when he started to look through the massive collection of books to pick out the titles that had anything to do with his research.

But soon, three hours had passed and he came up empty handed.

Arthur slumped over a desk in a corner in the library, groaning over his futile search. He wasn’t sure where else to look since he had gone through all the sections and not one title seemed to catch his attention.

There may be something that he could find in the Restricted section, though.

The blonde glanced at the door to the said section. There was a large, wooden door with a glass pane, revealing the shelves of books that were quite alike in other sections of the library. There was also a nameplate overhead, rusty metal letters spelling out ‘Restricted section’. The only difference was that the door to it was bolted shut with a giant, iron lock, effectively disabling anyone from entering the forbidden section.

The boy thought to approach the head librarian, his green eyes straying and landing on the woman behind the desk. The librarian was an old woman with graying hair. Her aged silver locks were neatly tied up in a bun on her head, not a single strand out of place. Her faded blue eyes still brimmed with life, wrinkles decorating her petite face like battle scars. Arthur thought she was simply a darling for staying in Hogwarts, guiding students when she could've retired already.

The Slytherin started to walk towards the desk. “Miss Cannon?”

The elderly turned to him with a smile, moving a bit closer to the mahogany table to give him her utmost attention. “Ah, I was waiting for you, Arthur dear…”

The blonde arched a thick eyebrow in inquiry, the woman merely chuckling at his confusion. “You were looking heavily troubled when you were sitting over there for a moment,” a frail finger pointed to where he had sat just moments ago, “It was sort of funny.”

He had the decency to looking sheepish, smiling awkwardly and rubbing the back of his neck. She would notice, of course. He was one of the most frequent visitors, after all. “I… Well, I’m a bit lost, you see…”

That seemed to astonish the librarian a bit, raising her eyebrows. “Lost? I’m sure you know where everything are since you're here daily…”

“It’s not just a typical book… I’m looking for a book that talks about the founders of Hogwarts, specifically Salazar Slytherin.” It’s not that she knows exactly why he was looking for it, right?

“Writing a paper about our founders for History of Magic, I presume? There are plenty of history books in the reference section--”

“No, I mean…” Arthur sighed, pursing his bottom lip. Regular history books didn’t give anything more than what was already discussed in class so that wouldn’t help him the slightest bit. He needed something that was more concrete and personal to Slytherin, something that wasn’t general knowledge to students.“Maybe something like a diary or perhaps a journal of some sort. I’m sure he kept one and if there was one, I'm quite positive that it’s archived here. I can’t seem to find anything like it in any of the sections, though…”

As soon as Arthur finished talking, a grim expression graced the woman’s features. He couldn’t blame her for her obvious distaste. Salazar Slytherin seemed to be an unspoken taboo subject to be delved into deeply. Sure, he was one of Hogwarts’ founders and the gist of his life as a founder was talked about when History of Magic was on the topic of Hogwarts but nothing else was taught to them. Nothing about his personal life was mentioned. Her expression could be read clearly that she knew exactly what he was pertaining to.

“Arthur, dear…” The blonde was already prepared to hear whatever excuse she had to offer to him. “I’m telling you this because I enjoy seeing you visit as often as you already are but…”

The boy watched the dull blue eyes of the librarian look around, scanning for any wandering ears that could be eavesdropping. After her eyes swept over the nonexistent crowd in the library, Miss Cannon focused her attention back on him.

In a whisper, she started to talk. “I’ve heard the rumors of you being able to speak parseltongue,” Arthur cringed a bit at the woman’s blunt choice of words and pursed his lips. Even that fact had spread to the staff of the school. He didn’t know that it did since the Headmaster hadn’t called him to his office yet.

“And I have a vague idea of what you’re trying to find out… Yes, Salazar Slytherin’s journal is archived here but I cannot let you read it. Even I don’t know the contents of it and the reason as to why it’s still being kept here but I advise you not to look for it. For your own good, that is.”

That was already enough to validate his suspicion. Slytherin did indeed keep a journal and that it really was being kept in the Restricted section. For a moment, his emerald eyes wandered to the direction of the door to the forbidden area before quickly going back to the somber sky blue gaze of the librarian. One thing’s for sure, he needed that journal. He graced her a polite smile.

“I understand, Miss Cannon. I won’t come looking for it anymore.” His words made the elder woman smile softly, placing her frail hand on his head and ruffled it in appreciation.

“Thank you, dear boy. Now run along, it’s almost lunch time. Maybe you can use your afternoon well by going to Hogsmeade instead of coming back here. You’re always studying so hard, you need a break.” Arthur could only nod in response to the bright smile that the woman showed him when he turned to leave, but not without one last glance at the oaken door of the Restricted section, before walking ahead without looking back at it.

Arthur promised to himself to abide by the rules for now and that meant leaving the forbidden part of the library alone. As cruel as it may have sounded, he wasn’t going to take heed to the librarian’s warning. Yes, he lied to her but he needed that journal and from the looks of it, was something he needed to answer everything he needed to know, about himself and about his heritage. What he does know now was that trying to get in to search for Slytherin’s journal would not be a walk in the park. For now, he will continue his search for another time and place and as soon as he runs out of any leads, he was going to force his way inside. If it came to that, he had to formulate a plan to do so and he could fabricate that in another time.

When he was walking out of the library, he came across an older group of snakes who were making their way down the hall. Arthur was adamant on ignoring them and tried to walk past briskly but a shoulder that he was sure he avoided bumped against his own, almost making him lose his balance from the sheer force of it.

There was a series of snickers that followed from behind him and the blonde mustered all that he could so that he wouldn't look back on the older Slytherins and continued walking.

“Wasn’t that the parselmouth housemate of ours? You bumped to the snake-talker!”

“Ugh, we need to get away from him!”

The younger’s footsteps halted immediately, irritation starting to well up. Arthur, for one, wasn’t going to take that so quietly. He whipped his body to face the retreating greens and was about to yell at them when he saw them quickly walking down an intersecting hallway. He bit down on his tongue hard, stopping himself as he listened to their laughter slowly fading into the other hall, leaving him alone once again on the pathway. He didn’t even notice that he had bitten his tongue so harshly that there was a dribble of blood leaking on the side of his lips not his fists curling and shaking at his side.

“Goddamn…” The blonde mumbled to himself, his shoulders shaking with the anger that he tried so hard to suppress. What the hell did he do to deserve this treatment, moreover from his own housemates?

“Why am I being treated like I’m the bloody plague!?”

There was a soft thump that resounded but for Arthur, the jolt of pain that ran through his arm was enough to have released the rage that threatened to make him go mad. His curled fist pressed dangerously against the concrete wall, a bruise already forming around the knuckles from the raw strength he exerted from punching the wall. The burst of adrenaline numbed the pain that shot through his body at the moment but he was sure it was going to hurt excruciatingly later.

Arthur started to take deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. He started to taste the coppery tang of his blood, flooding his taste buds with its metallic taste. He also felt the pain that pulsated from his tongue and fist when the adrenaline died down, wincing quietly at the brutal feeling that made his fist and mouth ache. It hurt but he didn’t have the luxury of time to go to the hospital ward to have himself checked up and treated when he could just treat it himself.

Taking out a handkerchief, he dabbed the fabric on the excess blood that had dripped from his lips and when that was done, proceeded to wrap the stained handkerchief around his bruised knuckles tightly. He didn't tie it tight enough to cut the circulation to his fingers but it was enough to keep it from unrolling from his hand.

When he had successfully fastened the handkerchief around his hand, Arthur went on ahead to his destination, the Great Hall. He was going to get lunch first before meeting with Alfred for their Hogsmeade date, after all.

Date? Could he even call it a date? Arthur quickly dismissed the thought from his head, the redness of his cheeks from the anger he felt moments ago quickly replaced by embarrassment. How could he think of something like that? This wasn’t a date, they were just hanging out. As friends, just as friends.

That served to calm Arthur’s rapidly beating heart but why did something so heavy, a stone of some sort, weigh heavily in the pit of his stomach?

* * *

  


The sound of gentle and muffled chitter-chatter and the appetizing aroma of food had greeted Arthur when he entered the Great Hall. The population of students staying in school at this time had greatly dwindled due to the fact that most of them were either in Hogsmeade or their own commons. This was what Arthur liked during the weekends. He was receiving less negative attention than the norm.

The blonde took an empty seat near the end of the Slytherin table. Lunch was smoked salmon drizzled over by butter, accompanied by some mashed potato and a glass of juice, and the mixture of flavors was just marvelous that it practically melted in his mouth when he took a bite. Arthur was enjoying his meal so much that he didn’t even notice a group of Gryffindors coming up from behind him.

“Hey you!” The voice seemed so close to his proximity that Arthur couldn't help but turn his head to the sound, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He was met with the sight of a rather familiar face.

The Gryffindor in front of him reminded him so much of himself when he was younger. The boy had messily chopped blonde hair, thick eyebrows and a small nose. The only thing one could identify them was that this boy had the brightest blue eyes. Second to Alfred, that is. He mentally slapped himself for his added thought. He should really stop using Alfred’s eyes as a basis.

“And who might you be?” Arthur was only asking for the formalities even if being polite was the last thing needed in this situation. He was a gentleman, after all.

Arthur already knew who this kid was. He couldn't forget a face like this one. The new and talented Gryffindor Seeker Alfred has been boasting about. In terms of Quidditch, this boy was his direct rival. Alfred is still his self-proclaimed rival, though. He just needed a name to go with this face.

“Does it matter, snake-talker?” The boy sneered with a smirk on his face, the other Gryffindors he was with snickering with him. His expression dimmed with annoyance.

Arthur didn’t have the slightest clue about the real reason he was being approached like this but if this was another group of bullies, he really was having none of this nonsense while he was eating. With a roll of his eyes, the third-year Slytherin turned back to his meal, blatantly ignoring any more jabs from the Gryffindor Seeker.

“Hey! I’m talking to you! Don’t turn your back on me--”

“Oi, Peter! Do you anything better to do than try and intimidate our Seeker?” Arthur was surprised by the new voice that joined in the mess. He looked behind and saw a large hand gripping tightly to the small wrist of the Gryffindor boy, who he assumed to be ‘Peter’. The other thing he was shocked with was the fact that it was his housemates, specifically Alistair, who stopped the attempted assault on him.

“A-Alistair! Collins, Dylan…?” Peter murmured quietly, seeming to shrink considerably under the gaze of the triplets. The brunette was frowning rather deeply, stepping forward to grab the collars of the two other Gryffindors that was with the second-year.

“You boys better watch yer back. Mind that fightin’ against other houses is ‘gainst the rules. You don’t wanna lose some precious house points, right?” After his rather cold warning, Collins then proceeded to push the other Gryffindors towards a different direction, who begrudgingly admitted to the brunette’s force. Peter was left still struggling against the strong grip Alistair had on him.

“H-Hey… This is starting to hurt, Alistair.” Peter murmured quietly, wincing as he tried to pry off the fingers around his arm. It was Dylan who stepped forward, putting a hand on the older redhead’s shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. Alistair only glared at Dylan for a moment before sighing heavily and released the grip he had on the younger boy’s wrist.

Peter started to rub at his now bruised wrist, wincing a bit when the glare that was directed at Dylan was now focused on him, its intensity multiplying tenfold. Even Arthur internally winced at the intensity of the emerald gaze. He has never seen Alistair look so furious like this. He was more the joker and loud type since he fooled around more so than practicing during Quidditch training, so such an angry expression on him was rather rare.

“Scram, Peter. I don’t want to see you bully other students. The next time I catch you, I will make sure to inform your head.” Almost immediately, the blonde boy nodded profusely and turned around to run off back to the Gryffindor table. Watching him run off, there was a chorus of sighs that emanated from the younger Kirklands, making Arthur look over their relieved expressions.

“Thank you… But I could’ve handled that, though--” Collins merely stopped him from continuing by raising a hand in front of his face, making Arthur clamp his mouth shut.

“Don’t need yer thanks, Beilschmidt. We did that because that kid was stirring up trouble.” Collins piped up, who was immediately smacked behind his head by Dylan in reprimand. The brunette cursed quietly to himself, muttering ill but halfhearted promises to the youngest of the three. Alistair only rolled his eyes and proceeded to take the empty seat beside the young blonde, his brothers following after.

“That ‘kid’, Peter, is our youngest brother,” Alistair started, the three brothers’ gazes all shifting towards the youngest Kirkland who sat with his friends at the Gryffindor table. “Even until now, we’re still not used to having a brother so far in terms of age, a Gryffindor at that, so do forgive him for his recklessness, Arthur.” He explained with a tone of sheepishness in his voice.

Arthur didn’t know that the Kirkland family was a large one. He immediately assumed that it had only been the three of them since they never mentioned anyone else, especially a boy who was already in his second year and of course, a boy who was also the Gryffindor Seeker. The blonde merely huffed nonchalantly, raising a hand to wave it dismissively. “Don’t worry, I’m used to it, the bullying that is.”

It was public knowledge that he was the one that people picked on. Even the first years, who didn’t know what exactly he did to earn such a reputation, ended up picking on him, much to his hurt pride. But that knowledge didn’t seem to have reached the trio, whose faces had soured when he had said it.

“Used to it? You mean this has been going on for a while?” Arthur could only nod warily in response to Dylan’s accusatory remark, his answer seeming to cause more stress to the triplets than he would have expected from the way they looked at each other in complete distress. He wondered why they haven't even noticed that? It’s too obvious that no one wanted anything to do with him, the fear that emanated from students when he was around they would resort to putting him down. It was a pitiful occurrence but it did happen.

Alistair placed a hand on his head, ruffling through the locks, a sensation that was soothing and familiar to Arthur since he did this quite often. He merely pouted as his already messy hair was roughened up more, the sixth-year smiling down at him. It wasn’t the redhead’s usual snarky smirks but an actual genuine smile. There was more to Alistair than Arthur really expected.

“Art, even if you’re a parselmouth, you don’t deserve this kind of treatment, you hear me?” Alistair spoke with a low tone, a baritone that made Arthur freeze in his seat. Why was he saying that?

“You listen to us, Beilschmidt.” The blonde turned to Collins, who was thumping his chest proudly with a fist. “We’re the prefects of Slytherin, there’s no way we're gonna let anyone mess with our house!”

“That’s right, Arthur.” Dylan placed a hand on the young Slytherin’s shoulder, smiling down at him. “Come to us when you’re having any trouble, alright?”

Arthur couldn’t find it in himself to respond to their rather encouraging words. He was left somewhat speechless, gaping at them like a fish underwater. A smile started to twitch at the corner of his lips, obeying to the motion and giving them a sincere smile.

“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.” Arthur couldn’t tell them that the harassment went beyond just the Gryffindor students picking on him but there was also an unspoken coercion within the Slytherin students as well. But just having their support was enough and it made his heart warm and light. The boy returned to his meal as the trio got their own lunch and started to eat as well. Arthur resorted to listening to the brothers’ conversation which ranged from the topic of their classes, homework, and eventually something that he could relate with which was Quidditch.

“Don’t ya think it’s sorta weird that this year’ll start with a Lions and Badgers match? We always start with a Lions and Snakes one!” Collins was the one that brought it up, taking a bite of his food.

Dylan merely shrugged, raising his shoulders. “I don’t have the slightest clue, none of us do. We were supposed to have Quidditch practice later because it’s always us against Gryffindors on the first match. We already reserved the Quidditch pitch when they told us of the match brackets for the year.” At the mention of Quidditch practice, Arthur seemed to freeze in his movements, his utensils clattering back on his plate uselessly.

He had completely forgotten about the practice. His arrangement with Alfred was all that he thought about that he didn’t even remember that he had other obligations to attend to. Just how deep did in his infatuation go, he almost wanted to slap himself.

His unexplained reaction seemed to have immediately jerked the attention of the trio to him, their faces a mixture of surprise and confusion.

“Yo Art. You alright?” Alistair was first to speak, peering at the boy in wonder. Arthur merely shook his head to dismiss the inquiry.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just that--”

“Hey, Artie!” Well, shit.

Arthur was debating whether or not he should acknowledge the call or he should blatantly ignore it in favor of giving his utmost attention to the Kirklands but the next call was only louder than the first. Next thing he knew, Alfred’s arms were around him, letting out his signature, charming laugh. The sound of it made his heart pound and his cheeks heat up considerably.

That definitely startled the trio around him, staring at the Gryffindor blonde like he was a spectacle. No one spoke first and of course, it was Alfred who quickly broke the silence, obviously not reading the atmosphere that formed when he had arrived.

“Are you ready for Hogsmeade? C’mon, c’mon let’s go already!”

The Kirklands merely looked at each other to realize what was the real reason why this Gryffindor bounded over to the Slytherin table. Arthur didn’t like the knowing smirks that graced each of his faces but it seemed as though Alfred haven’t realized the implication yet since his attention was solely focused on him, much to his embarrassment.

“Well, I certainly didn’t know that our future Quidditch captain has a date today.” Alistair chimed in playfully, causing the blush on Arthur’s face to saturate more with blood. It prompted the other two Kirklands to snicker and laugh quietly when Alfred looked like he didn’t even realize what the eldest had said.

“Future Quidditch captain? Artie! You didn’t tell me you were going to be a captain-- HEY! This isn’t a date!” Alfred seemed to have stumbled with his words at the implication of the sixth-year Slytherin. He seemed to be more vocal in his protests which made Arthur raise a hand to his face in an attempt to calm his blush. It felt a whole lot assuring that Alfred himself said that it wasn’t a date. Arthur hoped that it was but who was he kidding?

“Not a date, Alistair… But I do have to be off. Let’s go, Jones.” Arthur murmured under his breath as he stood up from his seat in favor of dragging the flustered blonde away from the group. As soon as the pair of blonde left the Great Hall, the laughter that had erupted from the sixth-year brothers slowly died down, a satisfying silence wafting over them.

Dylan and Collins continued their conversation about Quidditch but from the way Alistair’s mind seemed to be somewhere else because of how his eyes wandered and stayed at the doors of the Great Hall, the two younger brothers immediately stopped and looked at him in worry.

“Alistair? What’s wrong?” It was Dylan who broke the silence, watching as his brother only shook his head.

“Hm, it’s nothing.”

“That ain’t nothin’. If you’re the one quiet and all, there’s something most definitely wrong.” Collins only huffed in annoyance and crossed his arms. Alistair was always quiet when he was thinking hard about something. Being quiet and not telling them why only worsens it.

“I don’t want to freak anyone out but…” The identical green eyes looked around, looking for anyone who might be eavesdropping and moved closer to his brothers to make sure no one heard. “Have none of you guys felt anything when we’re around Arthur, or even way back when we first met him?”

The question immediately raised eyebrows for the other two, looking at each other in confusion before they shook their head in reply.

“I think you’re just thinking too much on him, Alistair-”

“Don’t you dare tell that to me, Collins. I'm really on to something and it doesn't feel good in the slightest. This is why I haven’t told you guys until now.” The redhead hissed lowly, effectively shutting up the brunette who returned to his meal. Alistair didn’t snap at them so often so this must be something extremely serious.

“Alistair, you have to tell us what exactly are you thinking. We can’t just exactly guess what’s inside your head.” This was causing them nothing but worry. Dylan only scowled back when the elder glared at him hard. A heavy sigh escaped his lips. This was going nowhere. “Just tell us, alright?”

The tension started to dissipate when Dylan stood up and started to rub the knots that had formed on Alistair’s shoulder. That served to relax him before he started to talk.

In a low tone, Alistair murmured quietly. “... Doesn’t Arthur remind you of dad?”

Collins, who was drinking some of his juice, almost choked on his beverage, sputtering out what was forced out from his throat. “W-What the hell, Alistair?”

Even Dylan was shocked by what was said, the hands on his brother’s shoulder blades stopping in its motions. “... That’s not a good joke.”

To the three brothers, their father was not an important figure in their life. Mr. Kirkland, father to triplets and a husband to a beautiful wife, went off with another woman right when the triplets were born. He was gone for nearly a decade until he came up on their doorstep begging for their mother’s forgiveness on the night before they were off to Hogwarts for the first time. The mere illusion of family didn’t even last. Their father died when they were in their second year of wizard education, Tuberculosis being his cause of death. Even when Mr. Kirkland stayed in their home for at least two years, he never got in the good graces of his sons. How could he? His sons never gave him the chance, despite the triplets’ mother’s best efforts for them to get along.

It was all for naught and the trio loathes the man to a certain degree. For Alistair to have brought him up was like an insult to them.

Alistair only hardened his glare on his brothers. “I’m not joking. You guys still remember his name, right? It was also Arthur. And the Arthur that we know now looks like a carbon copy of that man. Do you see why I haven’t told you guys?”

Dylan and Collins only looked at each other for a moment before sighing. “Sorry.” The apology was unison yet sincere.

“But we can’t just assume that he’s… Y’know.” Collins whispered quietly. It was too much of a stretch and everything that their eldest brother was saying didn’t connect any dots.

“We need to ask mum. She should know, right? She was the only one who accepted that man when he came back, after all.” As much as Alistair wanted to object, that was the only way they could know now.

The redhead only nodded mutely, his emerald eyes turning back to where Arthur had gone, out of the Great Hall and to the courtyard outside of the castle. He was sure that the feeling that struck him on their first meeting was because of the possible blood relations.

He just needed the proof that Arthur was in fact, their brother.

**Author's Note:**

> Maaan, I actually got this done. It's been awhile since I've written so any kind of review will be appreciated! Huge thanks to my beta reader, Citti!


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